Day 3 Sunday Xian/Wild Goose Pagoda/Terracotta Army/City Wall/Theater

Breakfast buffet, Chinese style with warm and cold noodles and rice, European breakfast with eggs fried and boiled in all kinds, various vegetables, and cold options.

By bus to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Small Pagoda is the female part. There is also the Large Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a Buddhist temple, that would be the male part.

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda stands in a beautiful park filled with the scent of osmanthus.

I buy an old map, a vintage-style map of the park from an old man.

Then we continue to the Terracotta Army, which is located a bit outside of Xian.

It is going to be very warm today.

Upon arrival, we walk again through a park to this massive complex. The Terracotta Army was built when the emperor died to guard the emperor's tomb. There are supposed to be 6000 figures in total, around 1.80 meters tall, and each face is different; you find infantry, archers, and artillery.

Housed in three halls. In the first hall, these 2000 figures are partially still under restoration. The second hall is the memorial hall before the battle, where the horse-drawn carriage is displayed.

In the third hall, you can see the area that has not yet been excavated. The figures are lying under clay, which must be softened over months so that it can be worked on at all. And then there are only fragments, which also need to be assigned. So that is a task for the next ten years. It is a beautiful area, with much greenery, but also very crowded, and it was hot today.

The Terracotta figures from this army were found because a farmer wanted to build a water well and discovered this figure, and over the years, more were excavated, and this large museum was built.

Afterward, we go beautifully to eat at a large table with many bowls, vegetable rice, potatoes, noodles, cold noodle salad, half a sweet and sour duck, and so on. Wonderful food, a true explosion of flavors. Tea was served as well. Drinks are provided very generously here. Tea water is available everywhere free of charge.

After that, we returned to Xian, and I managed to sleep a bit on the bus.

On the city wall, it was incredibly hot, so we didn’t linger there for too long. Then a break at the hotel, and then off to the theater.

We took the subway to the theater. An experience in itself, as there is a security check at every entrance to the subway. Bottles are scanned specifically with their contents.

The theater featured a show about the only female Chinese emperor, who was actually the emperor's mother if you take a very close look at history. But who was around at that time? The show was absolutely fantastic with great music, wonderful dancers, and amazing performances. Good visualization through digital technology.

Absolutely recommended. The show has been running since 1988 every evening, sometimes even twice a night.

Back on the subway, then to bed, and wrote the travel report.