The Terracotta Army is located a few miles outside the city of Xi’an, China. It was a long, long day exploring the excavated pits. I arrived back in town just in time to catch the sun set in a garden below The Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was mid-November and the air was cool and crisp. As I sat down in front of this picture perfect view, I wished really hard that time would either stand still or this view would be branded in the under side of my eyelids.
I have a thing for sunsets. They are one in a million but each one glows in their own way – kind of like pagodas in Asia. Sometimes the best place to see the sun set is at the very top of it. I missed my chance when I visited The Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou. I made sure not to make the same mistake this time in Xi’an.
After our visit to see the Terracotta Army, we went to The Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Funny name, right? There’s a story behind it:
A legend goes that there were two branches of Buddhism in India, the Mahayana and the Hinayana. The Mahayana believers are vegetarians but the others are meat-eating people. One day, the Hinayana believers couldn’t find meat to eat. Suddenly a flock of big wild geese flying over the sky, a monk murmured to him: ‘Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.’ On hearing this, the leading wild goose broke its wings and dropped dead to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his power to order them to be more pious. Instead of eating the goose, they buried it and built a pagoda given a name wild goose. From then on, they converted into the Mahayana by becoming vegetarians. When Xuan Zang told the story to the Tang Emperor, Emperor Tai Zong was deeply moved, saying “Our pagoda can share the name with the pagoda in India.” About half a century later, the other pagoda in Jianfu Temple was built which was much shorter than the previous one. In order to tell the difference between the two pagodas, the word “big” was added to Wild Goose Pagoda. Hence it got the name “Big Wild Goose Pagoda”. – China Bravo
Well, we made it to the top of the pagoda. Unfortunately, it closed before the sun started to set. So we ended up watching the sun set in the garden nearby. No complaints though. The sunset was just as gorgeous from the ground up.
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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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JC and I waste no time when we travel. Eating is not a priority. Neither is sleep. We live on water, bread and adrenaline. To save money for our trip to Xi’an, we took the train from Shanghai to Nanjing and flew out of Nanjing to Xi’an. By the time we arrived, it was early afternoon. During the cab ride from the airport, my neck stretched like a giraffe’s. I was eager to get the first glimpse of Xi’an’s city wall, one of the most preserved walls in all of China.
Driving through the South Gate, I noticed holes in the wall. We later learned that they were bullet holes. The wall was used as defense against attacks during the Japanese invasion. It was also used to transport the troops and their artillery. The top of the Xi’an wall was built so that it was wide enough to accompany soldiers and horses. Now, instead of soldiers stationed on the wall, tourists and locals get to bike and stroll on it.
On the outside, the wall is surrounded by a deep watery ditch. Looking out, I could see the new city of Xi’an sprawling with development. On the inside, the old city of Xi’an, it is still topped with delicate rooftops and laced with air-dried laundry on bamboo sticks. China seems to have a way of putting me both in the present and the past at the same time.
For ¥200 each, JC and I rented a bike and rode along the city wall. It was windy and I was cold. The path was rough and full of pot holes. I pedaled with furious intensity on that icy November day. All I was wearing was a brown hoodie and a runny nose. However, it was not the icy wind or the bumpy paths that hurried me along. It was because the bike rental booth closes at 6PM and we did not want to lose our deposit. We returned our bikes with 5 minutes to spare.
We remained on the wall until night fall. By then, the lanterns and lights turned on and Xi’an became a place where the colorful lights traced the silhouettes of the past. When it got too dark to see, we suddenly realized we were hungry. We hadn’t eaten since we landed. Walking along the main road, there were plenty of places to choose from. We thought we were taking the elevator up to a local restaurant. Instead, we ended up at fancy catered-to-tourist French place. But by that time we were so hungry it didn’t really matter where we ate. And it didn’t matter that the restaurant hired people to dress up as a prince and princess.
The food had a good palette. The proportions was just the right. Not too much, not too little. I guess that’s how the French do it. It was a good meal. Stuffed and content, we decided to walked through the night market in the Muslim quarter before calling it a night. Tomorrow, we’re off to see Xi’an’s infamous Terracotta Warriors.
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