Terracotta Warriors
Liam's impression:
We had met Sarah when we arrived at the hostel on Saturday and she was very pleased to be taking us.
We were amazed to see how much more of the army remains to be uncovered; it will clearly be a huge restoration effort for future generations. Liam especially liked the horses, while Owen was very interested in the different types of soldier and their weapons.
Sarah also took us to Bànpō, which is a Neolithic village (about 6000 years old) that was discovered in the 1950’s and still has ongoing archaeological work. We were really impressed by Bànpō; there was a recent renovation to the public displays and so the critical review in the Lonely Planet guide is no longer accurate.
Our other main stop was Huáqīng Hot Springs, which had many bath houses for the steaming spring water (about 40C) set amid beautiful gardens. They had been popular with the imperial court of the Tang dynasty in the eighth century, and there were also interesting historical links with Chiang Kaishek. Our tour also included a couple of visits to shops for local wares; our favourite was the silk factory where we all enjoyed watching the way in which silk quilts are made.
Today we went to see the Terracotta Army, and we had fun there. There were about one hundred Terracotta warriors. We went with a guide called Sarah who was very nice, and she laughed a lot at me.
We had met Sarah when we arrived at the hostel on Saturday and she was very pleased to be taking us.
We were amazed to see how much more of the army remains to be uncovered; it will clearly be a huge restoration effort for future generations. Liam especially liked the horses, while Owen was very interested in the different types of soldier and their weapons.
Sarah also took us to Bànpō, which is a Neolithic village (about 6000 years old) that was discovered in the 1950’s and still has ongoing archaeological work. We were really impressed by Bànpō; there was a recent renovation to the public displays and so the critical review in the Lonely Planet guide is no longer accurate.
Our other main stop was Huáqīng Hot Springs, which had many bath houses for the steaming spring water (about 40C) set amid beautiful gardens. They had been popular with the imperial court of the Tang dynasty in the eighth century, and there were also interesting historical links with Chiang Kaishek. Our tour also included a couple of visits to shops for local wares; our favourite was the silk factory where we all enjoyed watching the way in which silk quilts are made.
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