My chance to see “The Little Men“

OK, if you are not interested in knowing anything about the Terracotta Warriors press the little X at the top of your screen or swipe up on your phone now. A life long dream of mine to see these guys in all of their glory made possible by the dream matching awesome Wife of mine for letting me fulfill this moment that I will never forget, thanks baby x.

Probably my one and only “I want to go to…” on this trip was to see these guys in Xi’an, China (pronounced Sheean). I have been on about wanting to see them forever, probably since about 12 years old and we did have a plan for Kristi and I to go in 2015 but we were unable to go and I wondered when would be the next suitable time? 2019 was my answer. Often referred to in our family as “the little men” I was super excited to explore Xi’an, situated in the middle of China.

Now China is not easy to get to so you really have to want to go there. It is also pretty pricey for a simple tourist visa. Getting the visas was a pain. Like many things in a communist country, they don’t make it easy. We had to apply at the Chinese embassy in Chiang Mai which luckily was just up the road from our accommodation. The forms were long and boring, no online Evisa like most countries nowadays. No, fill out the same form five times for everyone, photos of all us and pay up to US$150 for one visa. Kristi was exploited, we thought because it was a US passport and the rest of us were on Kiwi ones. It turned out we got a single entry and she got a ten-year multiple entry. We duly sat in line for what seemed forever and only between the hours of 9.30 and 11.00, answered a bunch of questions to the head of administration, and finally were told to wait five days. The collection was relatively painless apart from parting with over $300 for five visas.

The next challenge was getting to our accommodation after arriving at 8.30pm in a country where English is not even a second language and google translate is banned. We took the plunge and paid US$45 for a tourist guide to pick us up and we also booked her for my exciting day seeing “The Little Men”.

Thank goodness we did, our flight was late by over an hour, it took another hour to get through immigration and finally, we arrived with two trolley loads of bags at around 10.30, exhausted boys and anxious parents, where were we going? The Air BnB owner did not communicate with us in English only Chinese but we were hoping he would be there and our guide, Mary, could find it as most reviews said it was very hard to find.

Mary was on the phone at around midnight and talking to our owner who we think was not “cosha” with his business here. We found it and it was fine. It was located deep in the middle of suburbia Xi’an and by the morning we loved exploring. The smells, the shop windows, fruit stands, meat stands, odd stands, and sights made us feel excited to finally be here and start to enjoy it.

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Men playing a crazy type of draughts in the streets to wonderful smelling food stalls we were excited to explore downtown Xi’an. Armed with a mobile express vpn we had access to all things Mr Google and we were off.

Today was colder than we had experienced in months so we had jumpers and coats for the first time. First stop was the bell tower and drum tower. Important pieces of architecture in Xi’an for timekeeping. In the older days, drums and bells were used each hour to tell the time to the town folk. These days it was either an Apple watch or a fake Rolex that did the same trick.

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We toured both and saw the biggest drum in the world that Charlie was nuts about hitting and not allowed to until his Dad took him around the back and said “Quick”, he was in heaven. We even saw a small musical show which was super.

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Now, these two towers were right next to somewhere Kristi wanted to visit, the famous Muslim Quarter. Famed for its narrow streets, markets stalls, fake items and of course close to Kristi’s heart, ethnic food. We were destined for a street food lunch and Lara was less than impressed. Where is Starbucks I thought?

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Well, Kristi found Gyoza that was right up her street, Lara settled for sausage, the boys chose fruit and I didn’t bother. It was a hustle and bustle of activity. With people everywhere staring at us wanting pictures of the boys which upset Ashton a lot. Now he knows when people are looking at him and he gets mad, he looks at them as if to say “Stop looking at me”, then bursts into tears to which the locals simply think that a pinch on his cheek is going to cheer him up. By the time I have google translate open and typing “please don’t look at him, he is shy” the matter is all about over.

We finished the day (after a Starbucks visit) finding a great local restaurant thanks to trip advisor cheap eats. Lara’s look on her face when we walked in was one that told one story. “I am hungry and you are taking me to a Chinese restaurant, where are the pizzas?” We ordered dumplings and sweet and sour pork. The food was delicious and Lara ended up loving it, so much so we went back the next day. Funny these Fister genes are, so wrapped around food on a regular basis, I can almost set my clock by it. Lara perked right up and was happy as Larry.

Now the next day was my day. US$170 for Mary to pick us up at 8.30am, show us Xi’an City and of course my long-awaited Terracotta Warriors. It had better be good because if it wasn’t, for US$170 I would never hear the end it. It wasn’t good at all………….it was amazing!!

Mary picked us up at 8.30 with a 7 seater, toys for the boys and a very relaxed and open agenda. We started with a tour of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

Now Xi’an is the start of The Silk Road to India and the temple played a very important part in this, holding all of the treasures brought back by China’s famous traveler/explorer Xuan Zang.

The original pagoda was built during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649–683), then standing at a height of 60 m (177 ft). This construction of rammed earth with a stone exterior facade collapsed five decades later. The ruling Empress Wu Zetian had the pagoda rebuilt and added five new stories by the year 704.

A massive earthquake in 1556 heavily damaged the pagoda and reduced it by three stories, to its current height of seven stories.

An hour and half here was well received by all of us, as was the Starbucks we collected and off we went to the Terracotta Warriors. At least I thought this but Mary had one call for us on the way. Now Asians love to shop so I guess they think we do too. Not this family thanks, Mary. But we did appreciate the stop at the Terracotta Warrior Museum of how they made them all those years ago. It was more like a facade to the shop behind it but we found it interesting and funny to get pictures of us as warriors. Did we want to spend several thousand bucks on a warrior figurine with our heads as the heads of the warrior, no thanks? Did we want to spend US$500,000 on the statue outside by Lara? Eh not this time thanks.

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The Terracotta Warriors

I still have no idea what the fascination is for me to see these guys but I just find the whole story of them so fascinating and have felt almost a calling to go and see them, silly really isn’t it? The discovery was made only 45 years ago in 1974 by a local farmer digging for a well. He discovered fragments of one or two of the warriors and began to dig further. Now in the three pits that are still currently being excavated there is an estimated 8000 soldiers, 520 horses, 130 chariots and 150 calvary horses. Each and every one is different in features, just like the real army of the day. There are still facts of this find that blow me away, the use of colored paint, the remains of the first ever crossbow!! We are talking the year 246BC here!

Now you would think that our farmer boy would be one of the richest guys in China wouldn’t you? Nope in true communist government style, they took the lot. The complete area is now built up as a small village and his reward for losing his home, land, and claim to a fortune was a small apartment and an annual salary enough to feed him.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Our second is as many weeks). This is at the entrance to the museum grounds. I was a 15-minute walk to see my No1 bucket list item and I was excited inside. What’s more the weather today was superb. Mary walked us to pit number 1explaining the story of the warriors, finally, we arrived at pit number 1..WOW

Now here is my “short” version of how these amazing characters came to get here.

Qin Shi Huang, at the age of 13 became the first emperor of the new unified China, he dies at 49 years old. It was his belief that if he was buried in a mausoleum along with his entire army then his afterlife would be protected forever. He set about the recreation of his entire army, including horses, chariots, houses etc to be placed and buried in and around his tomb, just outside Xi’an, pictured below. How they thought that so long ago is hard for me to fathom.

Now there are only three pits uncovered, but in fact, the necropolis surrounding his tomb consists of complete city recreations, including houses, roofs, stables, roads and even 100 flowing rivers. The rivers were simulated with mercury, they say this was to show wealth and treasure. Or was it? Was this the real reason why today archeologists agree to leave the rest of the tomb to rest in peace? Why? Because in reality today, the mercury readings around the resting Emperor are simply the highest ever recorded and extremely dangerous to tamper with. Each river had ceilings decorated with heavenly bodies. (Kristi questions the validity of this, but I won’t let her scepticism ruin my dreams!)

The role of an archeologist today is to slowly and meticulously work through the three pits uncovering more pieces. It takes 3 – 4 years to rebuild one warrior so if you are working on this project you have a project for life.

Each warrior is different because he is a copy of his actual life self from the day. There are archers, infantrymen, generals, etc. There is one similarity with all of them though, they are all hollow. Now that today is no big deal to be hollow but what about over 2000 years ago with no molds? The reason why they are hollow and their heads basically rest on their shoulders is that it allows their spirits to flow into them once they die, again amazing foresight. Like I mentioned each warrior was painted and even detail down to the pattern on the sole of his shoe was different to his friend next to him.

The pits all show us amazing foresight into almost crazy detail. The general separated from the troops in almost a war room environment. The general horses in their stable area. Even roofs over building that have collapsed but remain intact, road cobblestones etc etc.

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I was excited to hear that out of all of the current findings there was one, and only one guy that survived any type of burial destruction and he now sits proudly in a glass cabinet for all to see.

I could have spent all day here just taking in the marvel of it all. But I had a guide that wanted to take me elsewhere and a Wife and kids that although amazingly supportive probably had seen enough.

And what of Emperor Qin Shi Huang passing shot before he died? To order the round up and live burial of the estimated 3,000 people involved in the building of his recreation so that the secret is a secret for as long as possible, in his case over 2,000 years.

So I end this little bit by saying thank you to my family for letting me fulfill a dream that actually brought a tear to my eyes (yes I admit it did). For persevering as I took as much of it in as I could, a real dream come true. I love you all for this and every other dream that comes true for me x.

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We spent the last day in Xi’an exploring the city wall. We had an early morning start to catch our super fast train to Beijing so we wanted to take it easy. We walked around the outside of the main wall for some time through a park area. One thing we loved about Chinese life, they hide nothing about enjoying life, especially in their later years. The park was filled with elderly folks dancing, doing Tai Chi in groups, dancing around swinging swords, shouting at trees (even I found this one hard to not smile at but equally respected it). The city was spotless and we loved getting out in and around the wall.

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We spent a fortune getting here and fulfilling my dream but when it is your number1 bucket list item I would encourage all of you to make sure this box is checked. My family enjoyed me enjoying it. Would I come back and do it all again?

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Of course I would, look at all those smiles in the pictures.

If you want to see more of Xi’an click here to see our gallery.

Next stop Beijing by our fist high speed train………….