17
Location: Xi'an
Today was the first day we were able to sleep in. Thanks to Daniel, our tour guide here in Xi’an, we started our day at 10:00 am. Some of us chose to take advantage of the late wake-up time and sleep in while others were up bright and early and went out for a long run around the city wall, where we saw many Chinese people exercising and enjoying the cool morning air. Most of us had breakfast at around 8:30 because the buffet closed at 9:00. Once we finished breakfast, we headed up to our rooms, packed, and then headed to the lobby to embark on the day’s journey. From there we went to the place where they make replicas of the Terracotta Warriors, where we were given a tour about the process and then led to the gift store. They were generous to give us 30% off because we were all students. When everyone had picked out and purchased their souvenirs and gifts, we headed upstairs to lunch, which they called a “Western buffet.” They had an American and Chinese buffet with two side stations, consisting of handmade Chinese noodles and Chinese hamburgers. After a filling lunch, we drove over to visit the real Terracotta Warriors. Once we arrived, we started our walk to the pits. It was a hot and sunny day, and the pits were all very hot, stuffy, and crowded. Daniel talked about every pit and what each part of it was, explaining everything from Pit 1 where 60,000 warriors were buried, all the way to Pit 2 where a robber had fallen into one of the traps that had been set to prevent tomb robbers. There, the victim’s femur was still on display to remind everyone what would happen if they jump into the sacred pits without knowing where the traps were set. Our last stop there was a museum where they had moved all of the bronze horses and carriages and put them on display. From the pits and Terracotta Warriors, we were off to the train station for our overnight train back into Baotou. Before we headed into the train station we made a pit stop into McDonald’s and a noodle place; there we had a wide range of foods for dinner from chicken, fries, and McFlurries to Da Jia Mian and dumplings. When we were fueled up and ready, we loaded up to the train station for our 12 hour train ride back to Baotou and boarded the train to return back to the orphanage for the last time before we leave China.