Terracotta Warriors and Xian

After Beijing, we took a train to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. This was a place on Zac's and my "must see" list as we had learned about it at an exhibit at the ROM a few years ago and, more recently, Zac had learned how the warriors were made during a visit to the Gardiner Ceramics museum with school. 

A previous Emperor of China had 8000 life-sized warriors constructed to protect him in the after life. The warriors were only re-discovered about 40 years ago and are still being excavated. Of all the historical sights we have visited, it was the one that Zac has been the most interested in intellectually, probably because he had the most background knowledge beforehand. 

Danny had visited the site many years ago in 1988 and was amazed at both how much more had been excavated and also the tourist infrastructure that has been built in the years since, as tourism by the Chinese has only emerged in the last 10 years or so. 

Other highlights in Xian included visiting and eating in the Muslim quarter:

And biking around the walled city:

Staying at an AirBNB apartment in a non-tourist area of the city gave us lots of time to interact with locals and shop/eat at local markets. 

Outdoor bakery:

Next stop: Shanghai