Shopping and the Terracotta Warriors
Well the weeks move on, my Chinese continues to improve, my classes carry on, and I finally get off my behind and make another blog entry. Today I went shopping for presents for a variety of my friends and family. I won't tell you what I bought, but most of you will be getting something that is pretty cool(except for those of you getting something sentimental). Haggling was fantastic, I mean they literally start at ridiculous prices here. They will start at 120 yuan and go down to like 10 to 20 yuan. It's fantastic. I've really gotten the 'hang' of haggling, and was really enjoying it by the end of the day.
It's finally turning to fall around here. It's gotten cooler and cooler, now averaging around 10ยบ or so. The Leaves all switched colours really quickly. As my students have said to me "There is no Spring of Fall in Xi'an, only winter and summer". Of course I than told them the joke about Toronto, that Toronto also has only two seasons "Winter and Construction". The Heat came on around the 15th, which has been great(it was getting a little nippy in my room, though the floors are still ice). The cooler weather has brought nice breezes and a slight fog which comes and goes, sometimes the plateau on which I live in entirely encased in fog, sometimes you can look down onto a city covered in the stuff, like the whole plateau peaks through the clouds. It's very neat.
Last weekend I went to the Terracotta warriors, which was really cool. The pictures at the end are kinda self-explanatory. It's a beautiful park like area surrounding the covered complex where they keep the Terracotta warriors. Mountains are visible right behind the park area, and it has a very nice tone to the whole place. Flash photography is forbidden to prevent them from fading. They actually continue to do archaeological work, mostly during the night, around the warriors(the pictures are of pit 1, pitt 2 and 3 are still mostly covered). You can see tools and markers and marked off area's where the Archaeologists are presumably working.
A farmer discovered the Terracotta Warriors when he was digging a well. You can get his autograph at the place, though he wasn't working when we got there, so I missed out on that particular experience. Otherwise it was great. The Bus rise there was about an hour, but there were people selling fresh fruit and newspaper when we got on, and the ride through the country-side was beautiful, if enlightening. Some of the farming houses are the size of a tool-shed, and it's sobering to think that people live in those houses. Well without fanfare, here are a few of the pictures. Talk to you next time.
It's finally turning to fall around here. It's gotten cooler and cooler, now averaging around 10ยบ or so. The Leaves all switched colours really quickly. As my students have said to me "There is no Spring of Fall in Xi'an, only winter and summer". Of course I than told them the joke about Toronto, that Toronto also has only two seasons "Winter and Construction". The Heat came on around the 15th, which has been great(it was getting a little nippy in my room, though the floors are still ice). The cooler weather has brought nice breezes and a slight fog which comes and goes, sometimes the plateau on which I live in entirely encased in fog, sometimes you can look down onto a city covered in the stuff, like the whole plateau peaks through the clouds. It's very neat.
Last weekend I went to the Terracotta warriors, which was really cool. The pictures at the end are kinda self-explanatory. It's a beautiful park like area surrounding the covered complex where they keep the Terracotta warriors. Mountains are visible right behind the park area, and it has a very nice tone to the whole place. Flash photography is forbidden to prevent them from fading. They actually continue to do archaeological work, mostly during the night, around the warriors(the pictures are of pit 1, pitt 2 and 3 are still mostly covered). You can see tools and markers and marked off area's where the Archaeologists are presumably working.
A farmer discovered the Terracotta Warriors when he was digging a well. You can get his autograph at the place, though he wasn't working when we got there, so I missed out on that particular experience. Otherwise it was great. The Bus rise there was about an hour, but there were people selling fresh fruit and newspaper when we got on, and the ride through the country-side was beautiful, if enlightening. Some of the farming houses are the size of a tool-shed, and it's sobering to think that people live in those houses. Well without fanfare, here are a few of the pictures. Talk to you next time.
posted by Wise Owl | 3:36 AM
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