Shaanxi - 8000 Warriors

Sunburnt, dehydrated and exhausted, how happy I was to be leaving Henan. I was left with a heavy feeling my in heart that perhaps my trip was destined to be less than I hoped for, that I would spend more time struggling than enjoying myself, but I had a little hope that Shaanxi would offer up some joy. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint.

I took a hard seat train from Luoyang to Xi'an, Shaanxi's capital, a small city of eight and a half million residents. The journey was a quick five hours, and from my seat I was able to see China's untamed beauty as we sped past some of Shaanxi's verdant unpopulated landscapes.

My journey was pretty uneventful, aside from sitting with five Chinese people who could not have been more desperate to stare at me, by who were all attempting to do so with some barely concealed discretion. It took them all four hours of quick sideways glances before one girl finally managed to work up the courage to speak to me, perhaps encouraged by the fact that I didn't bite after all, everyone else managed to find their voices. Perhaps the most surprising thing that arose from the conversation was that one guy accurately picked that I am Australian, as opposed to the usual 'meiguoren' label I am given, my least favourite name to be called (sorry Americans!). When I asked how he knew, he told me it was because of my "height and five skins". Now either I mistranslated what he said even though I did ask him to repeat it, or this is a Chinese idiom I'm not familiar with, because I'm almost certain I have only ever have the one skin... 

Shortly after this I arrived in Xian and made my way to my hostel. As far as bit Chinese cities go, Xian is beautifully laid out and has a fantastic public transport system, set within Xian's original city walls and laid out in an easy to navigate grid. I stayed in the city centre a mere five minute walk from the Drum Tower and the Muslim Quarter.     

Naturally the first thing I did in Xian was look into visiting the Army of Terracotta Warriors. The warriors would have to be one of the world's most well-known archaeological finds and the army consists of over 8000 life sized terracotta statues. 

After unifying China in 246 BC Qin Shi Huang became China's first self-proclaimed emperor. It was for him that the terracotta army was created, for what particular reason archaeologists are still uncertain, though it is popularly believed to have been built in order to protect his tomb, to boast his power and to show loyalty to him after his death. Qin Shi Huang also instigated building various sections of the Great Wall, a national road system and his own city-sized mausoleum which reputedly took 38 years to complete and required over 700 000 workers. 

One of the most striking things about the thousands of warriors is how no two soldier's faces are alike. I was told by my guide that this is because each warrior was made in the image of an artisan, and that after each one was completed, he would have his life sacrificed in order to preserve the secrets of the army. 

Qin Shi Huang had some pretty amazing accomplishments during his time ruling. He created an efficient government which later dynasties would replicate, he standardised measurement, currency and writing, initiated the building of two of the world's most iconic wonders and conquered 6 kingdoms all before turning 40. Despite how impressive this all is I can't help but question his sanity. Qin regularly ingested mercury capsules made by his alchemists in a bid to (ironically) gain eternal life, he had over six thousand concubines, and routinely buried scholars alive in an attempt to stifle any political opposition. And when you consider number of those who lost their lives after creating his tomb, the artisans sacrificed for the army, the estimated 5 million who died constructing the great wall I do not think you can help but be shocked by antics of such a ruler.   

 
Despite the morbid undertone permeating throughout my trip to visit the Army of Terracotta Warriors, I still couldn't help but be overwhelmed by it. The three pits contain some amazing sculptures, much larger and more impressive than I had imagined, and all really quite marvellous.

Xian had some other great sites to offer, the most important to me being that this is where I got to see my first real live panda since I was five years old. As most of you who know me are aware, I have a slight obsession with pandas, and I have done for some time. I remember going to Sydney's Taronga Zoo when I was a wee little thing with my parents and getting to see some real pandas way off in the distance. Being so young I only have a faint recollection of it but for years now I have had an overwhelming desire to see them again. And so after getting up at a crazy early time and driving for nearly two hours out of Xian I finally was on my way to seeing another panda.

We arrived at the sanctuary and circled the large bushy enclosures, desperately hoping to glimpse a panda out and about before it got too hot. Pandas prefer cooler climates and during the hot summer months in China, the pandas in captivity prefer to stay inside in air-conditioned comfort, so the best time to see them during the warmer months is as early as possible when they come outside to eat. After maybe 40 minutes of waiting for a panda to appear, we finally spotted one hiding!

Can you see her?

She sat hiding in the bushes eating her bamboo for quite a while. But we waited, and waited... and then she popped out toward the side of her enclosure to do a little sniffing!

After a while we left this lady panda and went in search of another. We managed to find a boy panda who was much less camera shy. He really turned it up for us. I have to admit, I got a little overwhelmed here and had a little teary.

What a happy little panda!

These pandas are only 6 years old. They're full sized now, reaching around 4ft when standing and weighing around 100kgs. While they are designed to be carnivores, pandas lack the necessary skills to be effective predators, and over thousands of years have instead developed a great love of bamboo. Unfortunately because they are not genetically designed to eat bamboo, they gain hardly any nutritional value from it, and need to consume around 20 kg a day in order to gain the energy they need to live their fairly inactive lives.

After checking out the pandas and a few other animals in the sanctuary it was time to head back to Xian. I spent the next few days checking out Xian itself, visiting the Bell and Drum towers, checking out the late night water show, eating delicious food in the Muslim quarter and weaving in and out of the night market to the cries of "looky look lady". 

Eating some delicious jiaozi and drinking orange drink!

I enjoyed my time in and around Xian greatly, stayed in a fantastic little hostel and met some very cool people. Some of those people I would go on to meet with again in Sichuan province, which was to be my next destination. After my five night stay in Shaanxi province I felt relief at knowing my trip was shaping up to be the fun adventure I was hoping and I was getting very excited to move on to my next destination. Sichuan has been a province I have wanted to visit for years, but at the last minute things were not looking good due to some severe flooding which were cutting off roads, but I decided to push on anyway and try flying instead of taking the train. I am very glad I did.