Today was the day I hit a bit of a wall. It was through no fault of our itinerary, which included a one of the top attractions in China, or of our guides, who were interesting and informative. But unfortunately there was a Chinese holiday today — and also unfortunately, the temperatures got to around 95 humid degrees. Between the massive crowds and the crushing heat, the day began to take on the quality of a death march.

Our first stop was the famed Terra Cotta Warriors, an astonishing archaeological find from the 70s. Around 246 BC, emperor Qin began construction on his tomb — and spared no expense. Over the course of around 40 years, a huge number of fully detailed, life-sized soldiers were constructed in formation. They were created to mimic a real army, with different uniforms and styles for the different ranks of soldier. Each one has a unique face. (I wonder if this was an ancient fundraising technique. Get your face on a warrior, kind of like how you can sometimes now name a brick at the new library or whatever.) There were also fully-equipped horses and other apparatus of war. The site is only partially excavated — the soldiers were colorfully painted, but as soon as they’re exposed the colors fade away. The Chinese government is waiting to continue the excavation until the technology exists to preserve the colors.
Gazing out at the thousands of warriors, constructed in painstaking detail thousands of years ago, should have been an awe-inspiring experience. Unfortunately it was hard to get in to the proper frame of mind while fighting your way through thousands of actual people all trying to look at the same thing.

My favorite part ended up being a slightly quieter section that displayed a half-sized bronze chariot and horses that was also constructed for the tomb. It was incredibly detailed and there were various exhibits showing all the items that had been found in the chariot — from over sixty small, perfectly formed arrows, to food containers, handkerchiefs, and a spare whip for the horses — basically everything that would actually be found in a real chariot heading into battle during that timeframe. (Also, there was really good gelato in the gift shop.)

Our guides had an excellent innovation here — each of us was given a receiver to hang on our ear, and our guide could then speak easily to all of us at once without yelling or having to round everyone up. We chaperones, who spend a substantial portion of our time

I have no idea why our ice cream said this.

trying to herd or round people up, were wishing we could have these devices for the entire trip. Tom is seriously considering buying them for his next family vacation. It seemed like all the other tourist groups were equipped with them too.

Our next stop was the Huaqing Palace and Hot Springs, used by Chinese emperors over thousands of years.  Again, this was a lovely destination, and it was not quite as crowded as the Terra Cotta Warrior museum. But it was so, so hot. We shuffled around after our guide, looking at the ancient pools and listening to her talk about the history, but it was hard to focus. We would have been tempted to jump into the ancient pools except that they didn’t have any water in them. This looked like an awesome place to spend a cool, quiet day — there were temples way up on the adjacent mountain and lovely pathways leading up to them — but today being what it was, we were very thankful that this hike was not on the agenda.

Things really started to look up at dinner time, though. A dumpling feast! We were brought to the third floor of an extremely beautiful and ornate theater. The room was air conditioned! Waiters appeared at the chaperone table with glasses of beer that were actually cold! (Cold drinks have been non-existent here. Water isn’t even served at room temperature — it’s generally brought in a teapot steaming hot. At almost every restaurant we’ve had Coke and Sprite on our tables — we assume because they’re trying to cater to American tastes — but it’s always warm.) The bathroom had Western toilets (a great rarity) and toilet paper! The menu said we’d be getting 16 different kinds of dumplings! Everyone’s mood immediately became festive.

The dumplings were delicious, and it was so fun to see new varieties keep coming out. There were the standard meat and vegetable kind, but also tofu and mushroom (in green dough, shaped like frogs), and something that was maybe tahini or bean paste (shaped like little hedgehogs). There were steamed, baked, and friend dumplings, and even a couple of dessert varieties. Everyone ended the meal happy, and we ate almost everything.

Happy chaperones

After dinner we were ushered downstairs to front row seats for the show. It told the story of the one female Chinese emperor, through live music (performed on traditional Chinese instruments) and dance. The sets and costumes were amazing. It’s a testament to the excellence of the performance that we were all able to stay awake for it, despite high levels of exhaustion. Today, at the theater as well as at the Terra Cotta Warriors, was the

first time we started seeing other Westerners. There is so much to see and do in this city that I have to think tourism will really take off at some point.

Today was Lily and Claire’s birthday, and our kind guides set up “long noodles for a long life”…

…and even a special cake and birthday crowns.