The Terracotta Army is an hour away in the suburbs of Xi’an. Plenty of tour buses take you there. However, many have drop off points at local markets. The tourists make a few purchases. The merchants make a profit. The tour companies receive a commission. It’s a win-win for everyone. But JC and I aren’t big on souvenirs. We just wanted to see the Terracotta soldiers. There were plenty of hagglers and souvenir shops selling identical items when we arrived anyway.
The Terracotta Army is housed in different pits. The first pit JC and I entered was the main excavation area. It was filled with a sea of stone soldiers. They were created so that the Qin Emperor would be protected in his afterlife. It’s always tease when artifacts are within arms reach but those explicitly nagging “Do Not Touch” signs surround my peripheral. There were no “Do Not Touch” signs in this pit. But barring tourists a mile away made that point pretty clear.
The second pit contained the cavalry, infantry units and war chariots drawn by horses. The remaining pits were much smaller than the first. By the time we visited the rest of the pits, it was still relatively early in the afternoon. Heading back to Xi’an, we thumbed through our Lonely Planet book for our next destination.
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