I woke up around 6.30 had a shower and found the room open when I got back, I hadn't closed it properly. As I was standing there by the door the poodle from the hostel came along and darted into the room, just what I needed. I couldn't lock him in the others would wonder how it got in there for one thing so I tried to chase it out which didn't work and its small collar bell kept ringing. I went back outside and the poodle did come out so I got ready and headed off. I went to the metro and found it a bit further away than I thought. Then I had to walk from the tube to the train station and then try to find the bus I wanted. I managed to find the right bus area after a bit and got on a 306 bus at around 7.45 so I wasn't going to be first in as it opened at 8.30. The bus was full and some people tried to sell brochures or tickets, water and food before we left. The bus didn't stop much which was good as cost 8 yuan, also good. I read Wikipedia and also a good Chinese website on the attraction so I had more knowledge about it as apparently there aren't so many signs. The bus stopped at Huayuang palace area and most people got off, good I thought the Terracotta museum might not be so crowded. Then the bus did a strange turn, stopped and then went back to the main road and the quick route. I'm not sure what was there for people to see. We arrived close to 9am and I was first walking across the parking lot and getting my 150 yuan ticket and then I went in and followed the path and other people to get to the site. I went to pit 1 first, the biggest, best known and probably busiest. There were quite a few people there but there were spaces to squeeze in for photos and so I went around to the various places got photos before it got too busy. After that I wandered around a bit more looking and reading the notice boards. It was quite a long hall with lots of warriors at the front, then some empty space and then more warriors on top at the back, maybe being made ready to put where they should be. There were 11 corridors and definitely over 1000 clay warriors visible. At the end of the hall I went out and into hall 2 which was a reasonable size but had a lot less in the pit. A lot of what they had left uncovered was the wooden roof impressions. There were chariots or horses and around thr side were museum type glass cabinets with some of the Terracotta army to look at. I looked around a bit and then went to pit 3 which was smaller and was the command post. After that I went back into the first pit and had a walk around before I was happy I'd seen it. I wanted to get to the mausoleum which is the hill where the emperor was buried but it needed a bus and I didn't know where from. I went out front and saw another building to visit which was the exhibition hall. It looked quite empty, there was a banner for an exhibition on the Mediterranean civilizations but the doors were shuttered so I went downstairs where others were going and there was a dark gallery open. It was really packed and had done artifacts like weapons and items also buried and there were a couple of small chariots but people were crowding do much I didn't bother stay to long or take many photos. Back upstairs I went to the information Building which didn't really have anyone to talk to but I picked up a brochure in English which had a map in. I had heard a guide say there was a cinema and I found it on the map so I went there and watched the film which looked to have started already. It was a pretty bad dated film and I waited when it finished for the next showing to see what I'd missed but that was in Chinese so it would be 15 minutes for English again and so I left. I asked how to get the bus and had to walk outside and then get a bus. I left and the walk out was much quicker but then I wasn't in the entry area and I had to walk past lots of shops to get there. I couldn't find the bus even though a tour guide had pointed it to me I needed to ask another guy and when I got on it was packed so I stood up but it wad only a short ride and meant I got off as one of the first although I didn't really know which direction to go I did find the entrance and the tour groups all went to get buggies I walked in. The map showed where the mound was but the signs they'd put up guided me to do a wide circuit around it. I had a little look at their circuit as they had some information boards but I mostly walked closer to the hill which apparently you used to be able to climb but they had lots of trees densely planted on top and a fence as well so they didn't want people doing that anymore. It was a shame they'd not excavated it yet as I'd seen a video I'd borrowed from the library about the first emperor Qin and how he was buried with rivers of mercury and I really wanted to see or be near that but it was still just as it was when the video was made. I went around to the 2 pits which were not very good, some horse skeletons in one and some civil servants and what might be circus performers in the other. I saw a wonky bench and set up my camera on timer to take a photo but several Chinese people turned up in the way and then some wanted their photo with me so I obliged and then got my photo and went back to get the bus. I had thought I'd have loads of time back in the city as I'd got the bus for the mausoleum part at 11am but it had taken a while walking around there and it was now 12.30 and I got back after 1.30. I decided to try to visit the Shaanxi museum. Wikitravel said it was best in the morning and only allocated so many tickets but it was a Friday so I thought it would be ok and that would leave me more free time the next day. It was a nice hot sunny day so I did regret not wearing shorts and a walk along the wall might have been nice but you learn more in museums. So I walked into town to the metro station down a different road and got a bit of food on the way. I bought my ticket but hadn't memorised which direction to go and missed a train and then at the interchange I missed another train. The museum was a short walk away and I got something to eat from a fake 7-11 on the way. There was a bit of a queue when I got there so I wasn't sure but it moved at a decent speed and I was inside before 3pm. The museum apparently had 3 floors although the ground floor was floor 2 and the top was floor 3 which made 2 floors. I started at the top which was supposed to be less busy and it was a bit. There were lots of exhibits and being China a lot of them were pottery although a lot of those were funerary pottery, small men to join the dead person in the afterlife. They are like miniature Terracotta armies as the Country couldn't keep producing that many clay figures they made them all smaller and had some reason as the afterlife was different anyway. They also had some of the Terracotta army so if you didn't want to pay to see the real thing there were about 20 statues here which were probably the ones that toured the world and were record breaking exhibitions in a lot of places like London. The museum also had a lot of bronze and it was all a bit tiring with Chinese people not always good at moving out of the way and being in groups and not walking very fast. I finished up the 2 floors and found a side building which had the temporary exhibition you pay for and another exhibition on the earliest Zhou era. I checked the other side building but there was nothing there so I headed out but found the front didn't have an exit and the exit was out through the earlier side building, a walk which did not please me. Back outside I walked towards the big goose pagoda which I still don't know why it got its name. I got a bit more food on the way and came to the park nearby which was quite nice. The pagoda had fountains in front which would turn on and off in some kind of pattern but the pagoda itself was behind a wall and you have to pay to enter and then pay again to go up it. I walked around and then walked south along a road that had some fountains with statues in. I was heading towards the botanical gardens and found an art museum but the exhibition had finished on the 7th April so there was only 1 gallery open which had work by an Indian artist. It's funny but I'd never seen Indian art before and I come to China and see it there. I went down the road and saw a Walmart and checked the map and the park I'd wanted to walk across had just been a construction site. I tried to find the Walmart in the building but it was in the basement and there was no escalator down and I couldn't see the lift. When I found the lift it wouldn't go down to the basement and I ended up pressing all the buttons as the lift took me to the 3rd floor before I took the stairs down. There was no way through to the botanical gardens there so I walked all the way around and there was an entrance for the Walmart to the south side but it wasn't built yet. The botanical gardens were closed so I headed east back along the road and went through an open gate up some stairs onto a brick wall. It wasn't quite the city wall but it wasn't too bad a fake. I walked along and then couldn't find a way down and I hate going back. I didn't need to jump though as there was a cafe and stairs down and the whole place was some kind of art gallery although there didn't seem to be anything to see. I walked along and got to a lake park at 6pm where a sign said that 2 billion yuan gad been spent renovating it so I walked all the way around and it was quite nice with lots of statues and a few notice boards. There was a lion head fountain as well and a bridge without steps up so you were meant to walk a long way round but I climbed up anyway and then found I couldn't get back down for a bit. I left that park to go to another park but was just met by a wall I walked along and a gate which was shut. I walked round to the north side and there was a ticket entrance charging 120 yuan so it must be a special park. I headed back to a couple more parks and back around the other side of the big wild goose pagoda where I took the metro a couple of stops to the south gate of the city walls. It was close to 8pm and the walls were all lit up but they had barriers up so you couldn't get as close as normal and there was something going on. Turned out to be an impression show with dancers in front of the gates before everyone went through. It was quite good with loud music and speeches in Chinese and English so I stayed to watch it for a bit then headed through the wall and along it on the inside where the wall looks kind of boring with no decoration or features. I walked back towards the hostel and happened upon a church all lit up with a late night ceremony that looked pretty special but I didn't stay too long.
0 Comments
|
|