Friday Oct 1 Xian

Another non-descript all-inclusive breakfast at the hotel.

Li picked us up and we started off for the Banpo Museum.  This traced the history of the area concentrating on Neolithic times.  There had been an archeological site nearby, which prompted the authorities to create the museum.  It was actually very interesting, showing the earliest stone tools, pottery, and graves, dating back to 7000BCE.  The explanations did not exactly trace the development of this civilization, or give dates or a good time line, but we could tell from the creativity and complexity of the items where things came in.  There was a diorama of life of this era, with a wonderful explanation of the tribal life with everyone equal as a sort of "primitive communism".  Politics enters everything.  The actual site is preserved with explanations of the apparent home building practices with post holes noted.  There was even one house with 3 obvious layers of post holes, indicating successive buildings at that exact site.

On our way to the Terra Cotta Warriors, we had to stop at another factory.  This had the largest showroom we have seen yet, with more and more schlock.  And to top it off, the prices were higher than anything we've had yet.  They just don't stop.

We got to the Terra Cotta Warrior site and walked in.  Again, more and more people.  There are 3 excavations, with huge enclosures over each.  We started with a cheesy movie in 360 degree format (not Imax as we were told it would be).  It looked like it was filmed in the 70's.  I laughed through it all.  The warriors were built for Quin Shi Huang, the first emperor who united China at the Qin Dynasty from 220-207BCE.  He was also they guy who started the Great Wall.  The warriors themselves were destroyed after his death, and were discoved in 1974.  They have been reconstructed since.  The hall places thousands of these warriors all in a row.  Fascinating to see what a megalomaniac with absolute control can do.  Supposedly, he had 1/3 of the kingdom working on this project.

It was raining as we left, but we had to walk through the shopping street.  I saw one couple try to take the shorter route out through the "in" walkway, and was rebuffed by a soldier.

More traffic back to the hotel.  The drivers here are crazy crazy crazy!  Red lights mean nothing.  Turning left or right means nothing.  Just go.  I almost broke Ann's fingers half a dozen times in the near misses.  Changing lanes?  Just go.  Motor cycles or pedestrians near by?  So what?  Just go.  They can take care of themselves.

Then the coup de grace:  Dinner theater.  We had another tourista meal, with mystery meat and mystery fish.  The dumplings at the beginning were half decent, and the orange tapioca stuff at the end was sorta ok.  Everything in the middle was forgettable.  During dinner, we were "entertained" by a female musical group wearing ancient costumes playing ancient music on ancient instruments.  Then came the show of shows.  This was an "extravaganza" of native dancers in colorful costumes prancing around the stage.  Why China promotes this to tourists is beyond me, other than the bucks they get for this.  It would be as if every tourist coming to America had to see a Native American dance show.  It has nothing to do with anything of today or even of the recent past.  During the performance there was a guy playing a Pai Xiao, which is some kind of a wind lute instrument.  He supposedly is very famous, but I had to leave as it hurt my ears.  Ann stuck it out till the end of the show.

Maybe Shanghai will be better, but I'm not holding my breath.