Terracotta Warriors Review, Pictures, and Guide

We took the green tourist bus from the main train station in Xi'an straight to the Terracotta Warriors site. It took about 2 hours. The bus kept going, but the lady told us right where we needed to get off. We didn't see any major signs saying we were at the Warriors Museum, but we had learned that we should have listened to the lady on the bus when we went to the Great Wall, so we decided to trust this one. And she was right, too.

We walked through all the shops and restaurants to the ticket booth and found out that ticket prices had skyrocketed. They're up to 150 RMB (about $25 each), which is almost double what we were planning (from what we saw online). It was a difficult blow, but what are you gonna do? This was the only reason we even came to Xi'an, and there's nothing else like it in the world. They have the absolute corner on the market, and they can charge whatever they want and we'll pay it.

Once inside, we had a plan worked out based on a Lonely Planet guide. We were going to start with the movie to give us some background on the warriors and the Emperor, then to the museum, and then see the pits in reverse order. We couldn't find the movie, so we started with the museum.

The museum houses several exhibits that talk about the excavation and restoration work that is still ongoing. It also allows you to get up close to many warriors and other artifacts.

Watch out for Chinese tour groups. They have no manners and no respect for anybody. They especially don't care if you're trying to take a picture or reading an information plaque.

After the museum, we headed for Pit 3, the smallest of the three pits. I think this is a good  representation of the whole place, just on a very small scale. Part of the uncovered section is still in shambles.

They take the shambles and then reassemble them into what they used to be, then replace them where they were.

Then we walked over to Pit 2, which was way bigger than Pit 3.

We could see the benefit of visiting the pits in reverse. Pit 3 was super cool and interesting, but it would have been less impressive had we seen Pit 2 first. As you can see from the picture above, most of this pit is still underground, but they've used x-ray or something to see where and what everything is. There is a map on the side facing Pit 3 that details what is buried here.

In some places, the dirt is just cleared away enough to see a head or a hand or something. It's kinda cool.

In other places, they've cleared lots out so you can see the mess that was left after the place was ransacked (after the emperor's death).

Then we went over to Pit 1. This is actually where it all started about 40 years ago. Some villagers were digging a well and they found some pottery. Further inspection and digging yielded quite the find.

The place is ginormous and exciting. With the exception of the main entrance, it's also relatively uncrowded. You can walk completely around the pit and take pictures from all angles.

Another recent unearthing of two heads.

I thought the horses were so cool.

The detail in their facial features is incredible!

Toward the back of the pit is where a lot of the restoration work takes place. You can see warriors being pieced together like puzzles.

At the far back, rows of warriors are almost complete, just about ready to be replaced in the pit they came from.

After leaving Pit 1, we found the movie theater off to the side. We went in to the unique theater, which has a 360 degree screen. You lean against bars in the middle and watch the history of Emporer Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, and how the Terracotta Army came to be. It was very interesting, and if you can watch it first before going to the pits, you should, because it gives an excellent history and basis for everything you'll see here.

We took the same bus back, which picked us up right where we were dropped off this morning, and it was dark by the time we got back to Xi'an, so we went and took nighttime pictures of the Bell Tower...

...and the Drum Tower.

Lama Temple and Hutongs

We started the day off at an Internet cafe because the power went out last night at our apartment. We couldn't charge our cameras or iPad, and although we just learned how to turn on the heater (no more cold nights!), it was off last night too with the power. Boo. We emailed our hosts, and they promised to fix it.

So we decided to do a few things that wouldn't require a ton of pictures. We started at Lama Temple, so named because the Dalai Lama taught there. The chair he sat in while he taught is inside. There are tons of incense sellers just outside the temple, and even more inside. It made for a rather hazy courtyard.

There were also a lot of naughty sculptures, as this is a tantric Buddhist temple.

Very weird to me. I'm excited to get to Southeast Asia and back to Theravada Buddhism, which just feels right.

Outside of the temple, we wandered through some hutongs. Hutongs are basically side streets and local alleyways. Jerome, our host in Shanghai, raved about them and they're on every Beijing to-do list. We didn't know why until today.

They're awesome! It's an escape from tourism and an authentic taste of local life.

All over tourist sites (especially here in China), you always feel like the people are trying to rip you off, like the "no bus" people going to the Great Wall. But in hutongs, it feels different. It feels like the people are genuinely happy to see you. They smile more. The food is the same price for us as it is for them: cheap. It's wonderful. There are so many hutongs around Beijing that tourists don't all go to the same ones*, so the streets are mostly open and enjoyable. (Chinese people have an interesting "fend for yourself" attitude that leads to pushing, bumping, and disregarding lines and queues and general outside etiquette. Any busy place, like subway platforms or crowded markets, is much less enjoyable because of this.)

We navigated through several hutongs until we arrived at the drum and bell towers. Nothing crazy special, but kinda cool since they're so old. They're in the center of the city and were the only means of time telling back in the old days.

Drum Tower

Bell Tower

Our final stop was Nanluogu Xiang. This is technically still a hutong, but it is the only one that has gone commercial and touristy, so it is very popular for both for tourists and locals (this is the * exception from above). Lots of shopping and street food. Our favorite stop was a cute little shop called KODO (可多 in Chinese - they don't have a website, at least not one available in China/in English that I could find), which sold a lot of little things for your home. We didn't want to buy anything now because we'd have to carry it around for three months, so we just looked and loved it all.

But the highlight of Nanluogo Xiang is Mr. Shu's Dumplings.

They're fried, not steamed. And they're delicious. You should go. We got fifteen dumplings. You can choose all sorts of different fillings. We got some with pork, some with beef, some with chives, and others with celery (not recommended).

Yum.