hahah wow…. I just read through some of the last posts, sorry for the typos! I was on my ipad, which is hard to type on, but it also has an auto typing that frequently changes my words… so.. ummm.. im too tired to change them all. Just do your best! haha

up at 5:45 to make our flight, but due to the fog I have been sitting here for 2 hours doing my blog… And am still waiting… On well. At least I was productive! (by the way, we ended up waiting 3 hours to get on a flight that only lasts an 1 and a half… how sad)

Yes we get to sleep in again! Not leaving the hotel until 10  is a luxury for sure! Unfortunately today it is cold drizzly… And most of our stuff I’d outside, of course! Oh well, at least I’m not in Nebraska where it is snowing. First on the agenda is the stone tablet forest or forest of stone tables or… Well we couldn’t figure out the name but it is a bunch of stone tablets so that it seems like a forest of the . :) there were definitely lots!  The first 3 rooms were cool, but after about 5 you realize that 7 viewing rooms is just crazy! But I’m glad that we have our own personal guides who can go and show us a character we know and show its transformation. Each dynasty had a little different writing. It’s something we might just see as handwriting differences, but actually they see it as different as cursive and print! To me it means nothing’s if that line is pointed or a little longer or more curved, but to them (especially my teacher) it makes all the difference.
We had a late lunch breakfast so we tried to kill some time in a nearby market. I’m trying very hard to find a special scroll painting that I’ve seen, but all of them are so expensive! I keep searching the shops hoping to get for 100¥ or under, but I keep finding it for 500¥ meh! I walked into a little store and saw it… There it was! I asked how much… 500 of course… I was like whoa tai gui le! ( expensive) and they
Laughed and said no and pointed at other pictures that were 1000 or more. Then the owner picks up a book and shows me his picture in the book, apparently this guy is famous, my bad haha. But unfortunately I just don’t have the kinda money to spend so much on something so simple.
After lunch we headed to the old city wall whe we could take a bike ride for an hour and half. But ridding a bike in the cold mist just inset my cup of tea. So I entertained myself as best I could while the others went on their way. A lot of the ground just beside the city wall is very trashy and unlivable. I was surprised because quite near all the buildings are new.
Finally our last destination in the rain was a Muslim market and bell tower. On the square is a bell tower and a drum tower. The bell was used to wake the city up and tell them to get ready for work, the drums were used to tell them it’s time to be done with work. This is how life was before the alarm clock I guess. Though those bells would have to be pretty loud because I’m sure I would sleep right through them.
We we lucky to spend a couple hours shopping Andy finally found something I was looking for! A detailed statue of the mystical Xiling that didn’t cost too much. For a long time I was told that Xiling was one of the dragons nine sons, but he is not. He is just his own mystical creature. And by the way, don’t make the mistake of asking a Chinese person about the nine sons of the dragons. Most people know only a little and even what they tell you will be contradicted by the next person you ask.
After such a cold dreary day I decided to treat myself to a nice massage downstairs….. Oh china and your cheap massages… I can get used to this!

Had to get up a bit earlier today 6 30 :( but it will be worth it when we see the warriors! First we went to the site of an ancient banpo village. The banpos were a civilization from the China. The site is dead to 6,000 years ago.  It was basically dirty with some holes in the ground, but if you look closer it was much more. There were house spots that had divest for stoves and holes for poles. But what is really ingesting is the is more than one type of building. Most ancient civilizations have 1 standard house that everyone copied, but here there we’re round houses, square one and even rectangle ones. It shows that the group was steadily becoming more advanced. Another note, though slightly more grotesque, is that there lots of bones found. But the people were nearly 6 feet tall and their teeth were perfectly straight. Not the kind of bones you see all the time!
From there we went to the most beautiful place I’ve seen, a royal hot spring.  This place is riddled with an interesting love story. An emperor’s wife died and he sought a new one. But he didn’t have to look far. He ended up falling I love with his sons wife and she fell in love with him. He basically married his daughter-in-law. If that wasn’t odd enough the two were 34 years apart! But it is said they truly did love each other. So the emperor built the hot spring as a gift for her so she could be healthy in the winter. Unfortunately they loved each other too much and emperor, in his old age, just wanted to enjoy life with his wife and stayed at the hot springs watching musicians and theatre every night; letting his country go the wayside. Nobody was happy with this and there was a rebellion. Finally, the people captured him and gave him a choice, he could spar his life or kill his wife. He did neither and she eventually committed suicide. This is something like the Chinese Romeo and Juliet.
The place also has a more recent history. Chairman Mao ordered an attack on one of the people staying in the living area. I can’t remember his name, but he was leading half of china in a people’s direction and Mao was leading the other half in a government’s direction. So they were basically enemies. This might be the first war area that I have been too. (aside from city walls).
From there to lunch, then finally…. The warriors! These probably soon to be declared 8th wonder of the world were found merely 37 years ago by a farmer for digging a well. His luck changed the entire aspect of the city from a small farming village to a tourist trap. Perhaps this is why the people have such a different attitude than those in Beijing. There are 3 pits, the largest contains 6,000 warriors and the smallest 64. Altogether they have found 7000 and believe more lie underneath the earth. Unfortunately, they had to stop digging because of an odd circumstance. Though most of the pieces of the solders area unharmed, the paint on them fades after being unearthed for a mere 30 minutes. So in order to preserve what is left underground, they have decided to stop digging until the technology has been found.
Most of the solders dress looks similar, but all of them have different facial features and hairstyles. Some think that the soldiers were modeled after the artists making them. The detailing on them is insane, right down to the hairs on their head.
There are also 4 chariots, all made from bronze with bronze horses. Now while the soldiers are life size, these bronze chariots are not. After all, bronze is hard to work with and the time is too consuming. Even a master now days tried to replicate one of the carts and it took him 2 years! So you can imagine how long it would take with much more inefficient tools.
But why would they even be here? Well all the soldiers are facing the same way as if guarding something… Something like a tomb! The great emperor I mentioned early was indeed great, but a cruel man. He crated 2 things in ruling time, the great wall and these statues. Unfortunately he did treat the workers well and he used valuable resources, so his reign was only 15 years long. The shortest dynasty in chinese history. However, he was still buried in a grand tomb with thousands of soldiers guarding him in the after life.
But it is more than that, though the idea isn’t completely known. Because there are rooms where it seems the soldiers are resting or having meetings.. So maybe someday when all of them are dug up we will completely understand. But until then we can only guess.
hot pot tonight! I’m excited haha. Anyway, it was the first time I’ve cracked an egg into my pot and I must say I do like it :)