So before you all  get our Xi’an adventures,  here is a lil sum something about Xi’an by a homie on Beijing Frisbee team.

Livin in Xi'an

We arrive to  Xi’an and after the taxi driver getting semi-lost find our hostel.  Catered to Western travels, Mom was in heaven. The cool thing about the Hostels in China is that they usually have real affordable, no shopping tours that will set everything up for you. So we could hit up terracotta warriors and the tomb of Jingdi worry free. We still had the day and I was so hungry we went to check out Muslim quarter  and the Mosque built during the Ming dynasty. 

(street)

 Mom says I look like a christmas tree

(mosque area)

wish i wasn't wearing this f*ing shirt

The mosque doesn't look like a traditional mosque, it's very.... chinese

After the mosque we ventured over to the Drum and Bell tower in the middle of Xi'an, the Bell tower is in the middle of a huge roundabout.

You can’t really see the roundabout but it’s there. Trust me. IF you direct your attention to the rightof the giant ancient building you will see, a shopping mall. Momma J loves to talk about the juxtaposition everywhere we go. She also makes me take pictures of the ceiling tiles, in every, single. building.

They are pretty cool though.

Then we hit up said bell tower. Bro, Ancient Bells.

Word,  what we have all been waiting for. Huge clay soldiers. Our tour guide name was Jiajia, or if using English Lady Jiajia ( her joke, not mine) She gave us a brief introduction about the warriors and then, like all my Chinese teachers  asked only me questions about it, not 1 or 2 questions no, everyone,,

“How many terra cotta warriors are there?..... Jonah?”

“What different types of terra cotta warriors are there? ….. Jonah?”

“Whats my name?..... Jonah?”

“Which type of warrior is my favorite?.... Jonah?”

Yo

Lady jiajia, there are 9 other people on this bus. Same thing in grammar class during the semester, Im just sitting there, along with 3 other people, they can answer it too you know. anyways.

We hit up pit 3 first, which is a mix of soldiers and horses. It is still being excavated and they say it will take 40 more years until they fully unearth the pit.

They have some warriors glued back together on display.

Also they have the infamous sitting archer. The reason why he is famous and Lady Jiajia’s favorite is because he is the only terracotta warrior found fully intact, and in the back still has some of his color left.

 

Then we checked out pit 2 which was the command HQ

 Mom takes the camera from me because she really wanted to take a picture of one warrior.  “JONAH give me the camera”

We moved to the biggest pit, Pit 1, where there are rows upon rows of warriors. In the back there are warriors in the process of being put back together.

Then in the front you can see all of the trenches.

The tour guide got me a miniature terracotta warrior as a little gift! Oh man she so nice. 

This was our first full day in Xi’an and it was soo hot, I was melting.

Next day we hit up the tomb of emperor Jingdi, we walked along , or  on top rather,  the different burial pits, and looked down into them, the clothes have all disintegrated and now it’s a bunch of naked clay mini people. 

And mini animals.

During the night we went to a dumplings + tang dynasty dancing show. 26 different type of dumplings! Get stuffed. Then watched a series of  dances and musical performances.  Also met some really interesting people,  made for a some good dinner chatting.

Final day in Xi’an we had a late afternoon flight to Guilin so we went and checked out the pagoda park… it was way too hot to think.. ..

So I asked this homie, can you please put me on yo back and carry me.. 

and he said no.

The giant wild goose pagoda was also built in the ming dynasty, and originally was 3 stories taller until a earthquake knocked off those off.

Come on touch it…. 

That was Xi’an it was really cool to finally see the terracotta warriors, now we  are off (3 days ago) to Guilin and see terraced rice paddies and unreal mountain scenery.