Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Tour day 6 of 15. Xi'an with Harry. Breakfast buffet at Sheraton Xi'an North City. Like the buffet of our hotel in Beijing, this buffet is grand, with Asian, American, and European selections. We rode about an hour in the bus to visit the terra cotta warriors, visiting pit 1, the Circlevision film, and pits 2 and 3 before lunching at the site's restaurant. I hadn't seen a Circlevision film since I was a child, so I was excited when I heard that we would be seeing one today. However, the Circlevision film was disappointing, seeming to have been made sometime shortly after 1987 and then very poorly maintained. Two of the nine screens did not work at all (they were black), and although the acting and sets and reenactments seemed of surprisingly excellent quality (one dying soldier's performance in particular is forever seared in my memory), the circleness was not seamless, so a horse would leave one screen then appear on the adjacent screen a few seconds later. One screen was brighter than all the rest, and many of the screens were so dim as to be unviewable. This film really ought to be closed unless it can be restored somehow or replaced entirely by some modern equivalent. While touring the buildings we learned by Harry's phone that Rob's missing bag was found by Air China in Beijing and that we can receive it at the airport before our flight out of Xi'an tomorrow. (The paperwork must be completed in person.) Unfortunately, the missing bag means that Rob is without his supplies and a change of clothes between today and tomorrow. At lunch in the terra cotta warriors onsite restaurant we watched expert noodlemakers prepare and serve shaved and hand-pulled noodles. The shaved noodles were thicker and served with a pork sauce. The hand-pulled noodles were skinny and served in a broth. The meal included a medium-sized buffet and six smaller dishes brought to the table. Continuing our tour of the terra cotta warriors, we visited the last building: chariots and history of the preservation. While leaving the site, Lani haggled with a vendor and successfully brought a price down 60% for a set of five metal statues of warriors (paid: 20 yuan, down from 50 yuan). We rode in the tour bus five minutes to a local village to see a cave dwelling called a yaodong. Back to the bus and back to the city to visit the east gate of the Xi'an city wall. We explored on foot, took many photos, and I climbed to the highest open level of one of the watchtowers. Next we visited the Muslim quarter of Xi'an, including the bazaar and the Great Mosque, successfully avoiding pickpockets that were known to frequent the area, and stopping briefly so that Akemi could purchase an amazing cotton candy shaped into a multicolored flower. The street shops and walking street (but with many moped drivers) are charming and lively. More shopping by the others at Minsun shopping mall mostly for mens clothing and candy and snacks. Back to the bus at sunset we passed the south gate while a parade of some sort was in progress. 12-course Chinese dumplings dinner feast plus about eight additional dishes at Shannxi Sunshine Beauty City Grand Theater where we oddly had the floor to ourselves and where we caught glimpses and got a few photos with costumed performers. (We did not visit the show.) Back in the bus for return to the hotel. Lately we have been fascinated with the accident-impending driving conventions and are amazed that we have not yet witnessed a street accident, injury, or death, though we seemingly have come close to doing so a few times, especially because of the rain. To bed. Weather today was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit with scattered showers. Number of steps walked = 17,278. At some point today I observed a local taking a photo of a QR code—fascinating.