Xi'an: Day 2 (11/22/19)
Today I wanted to see my #1 priority sight in Xi’an, the Terracotta Warriors, so I consulted with the front desk about where and how to catch the right bus. A good thing I asked the experts, because I would totally have gotten lost without help. I had to walk to the nearest subway station, catch a train to the edge of town, and then walk to a bus depot where I could show them a note from the hostel and they would make sure I got on the correct bus. I made sure to double check how to get home after and they gave me the bus number to look for on my return trip. I don’t want any more bus drama this trip!
Equipped with instructions I felt would get me there, I stepped out the front door and immediately got sidetracked by the now-bustling alley. This was my first time seeing it during the day and the vendors were out in full force. I stopped by a tower of steaming baskets probably over 10 feet high and bought several fluffy dumplings from an old lady. I didn’t have any clue what was inside, but the crowd of people handing over cash was enough to convince me that they were good. And I was right! Turns out they weren’t filled with anything but they were sweet and oh good lord so very soft. To steal other people’s words, like biting into a cloud. They were warm too, fresh out the steamer, which really took them from a great snack to a divine one.
Surprisingly I didn’t have any trouble at all navigating to the Terracotta Warriors, the only time I had any uncertainty was trying to find the right bus, but showing the hostel’s note to the ticket desk got me sorted right out and we pulled into the parking lot a little before 2pm. I could tell right away that this was a site designed for a LOT of people. Walking across the parking lot took several minutes and from there it was two consecutive giant plazas in front of a ticket gate that would rival Disney Land’s. It was relatively empty, with maybe a hundred people walking around and a sizeable chunk of those were selling tours or trinkets like miniature warriors or themed jewelry. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I found a tour group and pretty much just copied them to get my ticket. I also took note of a small tour group getting started that was speaking English - could be an excellent opportunity to mooch a free tour by standing nearby if I run into them later.
According to the map there were actually three distinct pits, with Pit 1 being the largest and most iconic. It seemed like the path was designed to take you through the pits in order, but if I started with the most impressive I thought it would make the other two seem less impressive. So I decided to pull a Zhangjiajie and do them backwards! Ya know, ‘cuz I’m a rebel.
Pit 3 was basically like 3 small rooms like 15 feet down filled with a few dudes - mostly headless - and some horses. That’s not to say they weren’t really cool and I did spend like 15 minutes walking a loop around the pit so I could see everything. But honestly it didn’t impress me all that much and more served to hype me up for the larger pits. And I think doing Pit 3 last would have been almost disappointing after the sheer scale of 1 and 2.
I didn’t go straight to Pit 2 though, instead stopping to look at the little currency museum next door. Which was well worth the look in my opinion! There was a plethora of coins from different eras and plaques taking about why the shape changed over time from little knives to fish to bridges and eventually to the circular coins of “modern” China. (Spoiler alert: casting technology improved so they didn’t have to rely on complex designs and could instead use small coins with detailed inscriptions.)
Anyhow, Pit 2 blew my mind! The excavation was enormous, probably the size of a residential block! It was divided into four sections by a ten foot high wall with each section containing streets and buildings, both filled with figures. Each building had a wavy roof due to the ancient support beams having rotted away, leaving compressed sediment that slowly sank into the rooms below, which in turn crushed many of the terracotta figures and makes it difficult to excavate. It felt to me like seeing a town frozen in time, similar to Pompeii I would imagine. Apparently its also an active excavation site, so they are still in process of discovering and recovering most of the area.
As if Pit 2 itself wasn’t enough to look at the walkway around was much wider than Pit 3 to allow for a mini museum of famous warriors like the Kneeling Archer, High-Ranking Officer, and an intact Calvaryman, along with examples of the weapons they wielded, and plaques portraying the excavation of each area. Not gonna lie, it was everything I could have hoped for! I spent the better part of an hour walking the entire pit perimeter, reading every sign, and absorbing the sheer scale of it all.
Oh, also there was a jade exhibit (shop?) in the middle that I ducked into. Cool jade sculptures, just not what I was there for. Also a room to get your picture taken next to a terracotta warrior if you were willing to wait in line for, I dunno, maybe an hour. No thanks.
Around 3pm I started getting hungry and decided it was time to move on, stepping out and walking over to the entrance of Pit 1 where I found a seat outside to enjoy the perfect weather and the swirly bread treat I bought last night. After the flavor powerhouse of sticky soup yesterday, and the transcendent fluff dumpling this morning, I was expecting something equally amazing and was … honestly kinda disappointed. Despite being yellow and covered in what looked like spices, it was relatively bland and the fact that I didn’t store it in an airtight container left it a little stale to boot. Such is life though - I guess expecting literally 100% of the food I eat in China to be absolutely incredible may have been a sliiiiightly unrealistic standard to set lol.
After lunch I stepped through the doors to Pit 1 and, well, yea. Its absolutely the 8th wonder of the world. Like, the sheer scale is just absurd. Probably two football fields long and filled with thousands and thousands of warriors. Similar to Zhangjiajie, I can’t really convey the Pit’s scale since so much of perceived size is based on how much you have to move your head around or crane your neck to take in everything. But it was staggeringly large and blew me out of the water just like the transition from Pit 1 to 2.
The front half of the Pit was filled with the iconic rows of infantry and is where I spent most of my time, observing, reading the signs, and shadowing an English tour; which mostly talked about the discovery story (that I was already familiar with) and current restoration efforts. Those became more apparent as we walked by the back half of the Pit which is filled with terracotta warriors in the process of being stabilized, cleaned, and catalogued by archeologists. I followed the tour group for a full lap around the Pit and then did a second one just for myself. Partly to cement the scene into memory and party to stay lost in the sense of awe.
My feet were feeling a little sore after the second lap but if anything I was more energized than before and had no interest in leaving quite yet. So I left the crowds of Pit 1 and wandered the grounds for a while, checking out all the little paths and exhibits scattered around before tackling the museum. Which was absolutely enormous by the way. The building was much smaller above ground than the Chengdu Museum but when you take the basement into account it would have rivaled for floor space. And it was all dedicated to the Terracotta Warriors!
We’re talking life-sized bronze chariots, an exhibit on the warrior’s different mustache types, precious metal patterning, pottery, jewelry, period paintings, armor, weapons, and sculptures in a hundred different poses. For a museum rat like me it was the perfect way to end an unforgettable day. But then it got better!
First I had to get home though, which involved walking back to the parking lot via what I would call and “exit town”. Basically a wide pedestrian street that meandered through a maze of shops, restaurants, ice cream cafes, photo ops, and other tourist traps. The only one that actually caught my eye was a tea shop situated next to a mound of shattered clay. Looked like they serve the tea in clay cups which you then get to shatter on the pile. Might be worthwhile as a social event if I was with people, but not so much on my own. The whole place was kinda dead though. I think between being the off season and like 4:30pm on a weekday business was very much not booming.
I found my bus back no problem thanks to the hostel instructions and made my way back to Damaishi street as the sun was setting. I was starving so I plunged straight into the crowds in search of dinner and found a stall selling folded noodle dumplings at lightning speed that I needed in my body asap. I was watching to see how much they were when a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked “You want to know how expensive?”. I was caught totally off guard and took a several seconds to process being talked to before I confirmed. He walked me up, asked the vendor, and we both got one to go. I thanked him and we started talking about my travels and time in Xi’an. He introduced himself as James (definitely an English placeholder name) and we found a shared interest in physics and food. I was cautious at first in light of the vast majority of interactions in China being positive but there was the one dude in Chengdu park that followed me around. We hit it off though and after a few minutes of walking James asked if I would like to have dinner while we chat, his treat. I didn’t even have to think about it, that’s free food baby!
I told him I didn’t know any of the local places so he should choose his favorite, which got him thinking. He seemed more interested in what I had to say and generally turned the conversation back to me when I would ask about him but I gleaned that he was an office worker. He didn’t particularly care for his job but it payed well enough that he was willing to do it until he found something that caught his passion. We ended up walking the whole street without picking a place but when we emerged onto the main street James said he had a special place in mind and had called a taxi to pick us up. I felt pretty good about James so I wasn’t super worried about any sketchy stuff and I mean come on, it free food, I can’t say no.
We rode across town to a mega mall and reserved a restraunt table for 8:30pm, so we had half an hour to kill and James had a plan! During our rambling conversation over the last hour or so we had established food as a conversational safe space, so it wasn’t surprising when James suggested touring the ground floor food stalls. We tried a few different things but I don’t really recall what they were since grilled chicken foot eclipsed them all. Now, I’m not gonna lie, I was already aware of the existence of grilled chicken feet as a food, and was absolutely ecstatic to actually have the chance to try it. James pointed it out as a this-exists-but-you-probably-won’t-like-it so I thing I caught him off guard when I was so enthusiastic about trying it.
Delicious. Very weird texture and eating experience, but the flavor was amazing! Savory and a little sweet with a background of anise (identified after the fact, at the time I didn’t know why it had a hint of licorice). It had been cooked to the point where the bones turned gelatinous so you could just munch through the finger bones. By the way, James taught me the secret foot-eating technique, which involves biting each knuckle off until no toes remain and then working the palm meat from the tendons. I loved the experience but I can definitely understand why it would weird/creep people out.
By that point our seating time was nearing and James took me on a roundabout route back to the restaurant so as to pass by a giant Wukong statue and I think I surprised him again by identifying it as such and being able to recite the story he comes from - Journey to the West. He was grinning ear to ear as he told me our table was at a Journey to the West themed restaurant. With several rooms, each styled after a different location from the story. We were seated in the waterfall/flower mountain section, which was all ink mountain paintings and lotus lanterns.
Picture stolen from reddit, since I didn’t take one myself.
Once seated, James pulled out a menu approximately as large as the continental United States. This thing was HUGE! There weren’t any pictures either, just 12 point text and check boxes - probably over a hundred of them. And this guy just started checking boxes left right and center. Doesn’t even check with me what I want cuz he knows I’m gonna eat anything in front of me at this point. He handed the menu off and after a few minutes the food started rolling out.
This was not a meal. It was an unending tide. An edible avalanche. A perpetual onslaught of cuisine. I could not survive as a mere mortal man. I had to become more - had to embrace the darkest side of myself. I did what I had to.
I became an unstoppable force of gluttony: tofu soup, bamboo stir fry, sticky beans, plum rice, three orders of chicken skewers, roujiamo (like a pork sandwich), at least four different soups, charred pork belly, spicy spinach salad, fried ham (I think, it tasted like ham), pepper and onion salad, some kind of meat pie, sweet sticky rice, ice cream, and more. As soon as a bowl was empty James flagged down a waiter to replace it with another food I had never seen before. Every dish had a story or challenge behind it, from “I ate so many of these as a child I threw up on a stranger’s shoes” to “You said you like hot? Eat this. This is good.” Followed by me cough-crying from spice for the next minute, giving thumbs ups to signal that I’m not in death throes. We ate for over an hour and a half, until we couldn’t take another bite. I felt like one more bowl would send me over the edge from painfully overeaten to regretfully so.
But the night wasn’t done! James still had a final activity for the night: Datang Everbright City (Dayan Pagoda South Square). Another taxi brought us to a massive pedestrian street leading away from an equally gigantic pagoda towering several blocks away. It was all lights and people and was immediately obvious to me that this was the equivalent of an iconic downtown. Cultural monuments, malls, museums, several stages with live music, a shouting fountain that sprayed in response to yelling, light-up sidewalks, I think I even saw an opera house.
We meandered for around an hour, making slow conversation and just being content after an incredible meal. By the time James called a Taxi to bring me back to my hostel it was nearing midnight and, at his offer, we made plans to meet up tomorrow morning so he could show me around the city.
