First thing in the morning we left for the airport for our flight to Xian (pronounced shion) and upon arrival had our second horrible meal. The one last night was mediocre at best and that is giving the restaurant the benefit of the doubt. Other than breakfast I have not eaten more than a few bites. I am an adventuress when it comes to food except for the most exotic, love Chinese food and I am not that picky but I found myself drinking a beer to stave off starvation again.

After arrival in Xian we went directly to the Terra Cotta Warriors and visited Pit #1 which is where most of the warriors have been found. There is no way to describe in words what you see and I never dreamed of the vastness of this pit. I have included one photo which I hope portrays the vastness but unless you are there it is hard to comprehend. AND, they still feel there may be three to five thousand more that have not been recovered and may be at lower levels. The detail on the faces of the men is incredible and they are all different. This was not a cookie cutter operation. Look at the horses carefully. I have many photos and can’t post them here but I have tried to give you a taste of my experience. The Terra Cotta Warriors is every bit what I anticipated and more.

The complex consists of four pits, a cinema in the round, and a museum and was built on the farm of the farmer who found the first evidence of the warriors while digging a well. A member of the family is still autographing books about the warriors and I did purchase one. The farmer received the equivalent of $30.00 and was moved off his farm. At the time this happened the communist government owned all the land in China. They seem to have made out since they now live in nice homes and the little business of the autographs is sustaining their lifestyle.

During our visit it was raining cats and dogs and fortunately everything was inside so with an umbrella I was able to stay dry.

We then headed back to the hotel and had 15 minutes to get ready for dinner and the Tang Dynasty show. What a show. The costumes were spectacular with all of the colors of the rainbow. The dancing very professional and top quality. I also ate for the first time as the food was excellent. I was a little grumpy about the short time we had between arrival at the hotel and the show but the show and a full tummy made me happy again.

Before flying to Shanghai to join the ship we visited the tallest pagoda in China and it was quite spectacular. Beautiful statuary but no room to post all of them here. I love this little (and I mean little) man who was mopping all the little crevices. The rain had stopped and they were mopping up. We also visited the city wall which is actually wider than the Great Wall and I had to take a photo of this trash can which looked like a piece of art at first glance.

Before we reached the temple Bob had ratted me out and they sang Happy Birthday to me in four languages; English, Chinese, Indonesian, and Spanish. But the most unusual event was at the dim sum restaurant where the guide mentioned that it was my birthday. The waitresses brought me the traditional treat with for your birthday celebration. A bowl of long noodles, together with a dumpling containing a hard boiled egg and vegetables. The Chinese believe eating long noodles on your birthday is a symbol of longevity. At this point in my life I will take all the help I can get. I had eaten seven dim sum before this and there was no way I could eat this bowl of noodles. John (Dee’s husband) volunteered to help and I had a few noodles but he finished the bowl. I was afraid they would be insulted if I didn’t eat the bowl of noodles.

The dim sum was excellent so I had another good meal. John said the noodles was the highlight of the meal and even better than the dim sum. They served us 18 different dim sum but I gave up after 10.

After lunch we headed to the airport and after an uneventful flight we were reunited with the ship. It was good to be home but I am so glad I did this side trip and feel it was money well spent.