All the King's Horses and All the King's Men

Xi'an, according to the guidebook, is "firmly on the tourist itinerary" and I have to say for tourists their public transportation is very handy. To get out to the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang Di (the first emperor of a united China in 221BCE) one only need step off the overnight train and head to the east side of the train station plaza, where minibuses and tourist public buses depart for these destinations regularly. Xi'an's imposing city walls were the first thing we saw when we got off the train and we wanted to walk around them, but at 13km in circumference we didn't have time--the best way is to rent bikes and bike around.

The tourist bus #307 runs right out to the terracotta warrior complex, about 20k outside of town, via some city streets and other attractions such as the Taoist holy mountain Li Shan and various museums and whatnot along the way. The cost is only 7 yuan, which makes it a much better deal than the minibuses that take you straight to the warriors for 26 yuan. Jessica and I hopped onto the tourist bus and it took us about one hour to arrive. The bus was very nice, though, more like a long distance coach, and was air conditioned.

The terracotta army is actually adjacent to the grave of the Qin emperor, which has not been excavated, and was not mentioned in extant historical texts. The army features thousands of life-sized warrior figurines with unique facial features, different poses and uniforms. Horses, chariots, weaponry and other artifacts were also found with the army. It was discovered in 1975 by a peasant sinking a well and has been nicely excavated and was well presented. According to the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the tomb of the Qin emperor has rivers of mercury and treasures untold... as well as booby traps full of spears and arrows waiting to shoot any who trespass. Sounds like a case for Indiana Jones!

The army is housed in three vaults, all partially excavated and roofed. The 1st vault is the largest, with 8000 or so figures arranged in neat rows. The vault is the size of an aircraft hanger, so the scale is immense. Ignoring the throngs of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the figures, Jess and I tried to capture the scope of the view with photos but they don't really do it justice. You can't wander around the figures (since they are fragile terracotta and additionally sections are still under construction) but there are walkways around the entire area so you can get a closer look.

To me the figures were certainly imposing, but also a little sad. They are just standing, waiting for their master who will never come. Some were reassembled but others are lying smashed.

The second vault is fully of mostly broken horses and cavalrymen. This vault also has a fine museum with a close up view of one horse and cavalryman (the detail on both is exquisite, down to the individual lines of hair on both as well as the notched bolts that hold the warrior's armor together. There are also archer figures and a spectacular general, with a fancy hairdo, scarves of glory and a bushy handlebar mustache. You can see the fingernails on all the figures, really impressive.

The third vault is mostly empty, but it does house six beautiful horse figures that came with a chariot, which is being restored. There is also a separate museum that shows two 1/5 scale war chariots with horses and driver, all made of bronze. The museum also features two marionettes that were used in the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies, which are kind of the most creepy things I've ever seen.

Having had our fill of history, Jess and I caught the bus back to Xi'an and got back on the internet. Unfortunately, the flight was now 200 yuan more expensive! Fighting over the phone with Air China proved fruitless, so we caught the airport bus (which we discovered by luck while wandering around looking for the internet cafe). The bus took about an hour, and it rained heavily. We got quite damp walking over to take the bus.

At the airport, the one staff member at the Air China ticket booking desk was spectacularly unhelpful, raising her voice and interrupting us when we tried to explain our story. We asked to speak to her boss, and she made a phone call, then said "Boss not coming. I no help you." She then proceeded to ignore us and read the paper. No amount of talking loudly in English or Chinese would rouse her. Jessica was so furious she could barely speak. Unfortunately, Air China's flight that I was already booked on was the cheapest. We decided to book the flight, but used a private ticket booking desk provided by the airport itself, which was just 2 booths down from the Air China satan's spawn. Ironically they quoted us a cheaper rate on the Eastern China flight that left a little earlier compared to what we were told when we asked the official Eastern China Airlines ticket booking staff, but Jess opted for Air China so we could fly together. OOPS.

We made it through security and went and sat in a cafe until boarding time... when an announcement was promptly made that our flight was delayed until 10:45 due to "maintenance of the aircraft." To us that sounded like "we're bull$hitting you because we're incompetent idiots." As you can tell we were really down on Air China right now. In what was not a shocker, they delayed the flight again to midnight, and then once more to 12:45. I was not the only person who was infuriated with Air China, local Chinese citizens were arguing with the ground staff and receiving the same crappy service (which made me a little bit perversely pleased).

Finally, another plane arrived around 12:20am and we boarded at 12:45am. They gave us 100 yuan refund, which is about US$12. Thanks a lot, way to rub salt on an open wound! The flight was uneventful, except for a minor altercation with a flight attendant who told me to turn off my iPhone (which was in airplane mode) because it "wasn't allowed in China" which is complete BS because I used it on the Air China flight we took from Guilin to Chengdu AND it's basically an iPod when it is on airplane mode. I stuck to my guns because there was no way I wasn't going to have music and my games during the flight. Eventually another flight attendant came over and knocked some sense into the one berating me. This entire exchange was in a mixture of English and Chinese, all of it probably ruder than I would like but I was at my last straw.

We landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 2:20am, but we had to taxi forever and then once we got off the gate I think we walked about a kilometer to get out. Jessica and I were not happy with the fact that Terminal 3 at Beijing Captial Airport is the world's second largest terminal after Dubai! We took a cab to the Mariott and got to our room at 4am. Thanks a lot, Air China. I'm going to tell everyone I possibly can about how crappy your customer service is.