October 19, 2017 Visit to Western China - The Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xian, Chinablau1948
October 19, 2017 - Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xian, China.
My husband and I had our entire western China tour including Tibet and the Potala Palace in Lhasa arranged by Robert Hui of China Highlights including hotel lodgings. We have been to Beijing, Shangai, Hangzhou, Xian, Guangzhou and the Yangzi River, some cities several times. This part of western China we have not visited and there are very few tour companies in the western world arrange tours to this part of western China because they are unfamiliar and have little or no contact with Chinese tour operators. We found China Highlights online and read excellent reviews about their tours including their past clients Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, I was told. We had an excellent experience working with Robert Hui, the tour planner to the Paypal payment and the entire western China tour experience was safe, comfortable, excellent western style 4-5 star accommodatios.
Our tour to western China was from October 8 to November 1, 2017. I plan to post our experience in every city on Trip Advisor, but I, most likely, have to do it on 15 reviews due to the space restrictions on Trip Advisor, I assume. So, if you are interested in visiting the western part of China, look for my review which I will try to post every few days. I have to explore how Trip Advisor categorize their travel reviews.
October 19, 2017 - Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xian, China.
This morning we left the fabulous Wyndham Grand Residence in Xian which has luxurious and spacious condos next to the Wyndham Hotel, Xian, arranged by Robert Hui of China Highlights. We visited the Terracotta Warrior Museum. Just about everywhere you go in China, all they have is land. World known museums such as the Terracotta Warriior Museum generally have ample large area to accommodate long lines of large number of Chinese and some foreign visitors. In the summer high season months, our guide, Mr. Hufeng Yuan, informed us there would be over 100,000 visitors to the museum every day. People are curious, the Chinese citizens have been ruled and restricted by their communist government for 6 decades. Now that a middle class has emerged in China who have the ability to make and spend money, they would flock to the cities that they have heard so much about during any holiday.
The high season for the Chinese citizens is from May to October 8 when the National Holiday ends. The high season for foreigners is from October to the end of November and sporadically over the year when they dare to wait in line for hours as the Chinese do. Check on the rainy season of the cities you lan to visit. It could be in May or so. I chose to visit when there are smaller crowds and even today's visitors would be at least 10,000. We went into the museum this morning at 10 a.m. and there was hardly any lines. When we left at 3 p.m., the line was a mile long and at certain areas inside the museum, there were huge crowds gathered.
Among the many thousand terracotta warriors and horses excavated, they only found one warrior that was in perfect condition. They also found a command center where the tool each warrior held in their hand in the command center were not weapons for war, but a blunt object with a small round cylinder at the end of a long handle as if it was use to direct the warriors instead of using it to fight. There are certain areas that they have not able to figure out how to excavate because poison gas was emitted upon excavation, so they covered it up and are conducting more studies tofind out how to excavate safely.
At lunch we had steamed fish which we were quite happy to have a change from the familiar Chinese menu but the day before we were able to get a chicken and mushroom pizza at the restaurant.
Long time ago, Xian used to be the capital of China. We visited Xian's city wall which is about 40 feet thick and 60 feet tall. It has a moat surrounding the city. The city wall lights up at night, making the buildings bright and colorful.
I have heard of the Tong Dynasty dinner show as being well known and quite a good show that everyone should see. So, our guide Mr. Yuan was kind enough to help us book our tickets and ordered the seat I wanted for best photography. We had lots of dumplings of various kinds of meat, pork, fish even tomato in a broth, dessert and a fruit dish accompanying the meal. The food was fair but the show was spectacular with their music and their colorful costumes. It was 70 minutes long and the cost was approximately U.S. $120 for two. We were picked up by our guide and driver at 7:15 p.m. and returned to the hotel at 8 p.m. after a drive through the well lit downtown. We were grateful that we got to see the show with the best seats for photography, a nice meal and a ride back to the hotel even though the guide and the driver had to wait outside for a couple of hours.
Our guide, Mr. Yuan Hu Feng was one of the most flexible and accommodating guide during our Chinese tour. He has worked in Dubai, therefore, has much experience working with foreigners and is very adaptable and accommodating to foreign visitors' requests. For instance, we were so tired after walking through the Terracotta Warrior's Museum for three hours. It was close to lunch time and we were on a tight schedule because we planned to go to a show at 6 p.m. I asked that we sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee to relax, Mr. Yuan had no problem and took us to a tea house above the museum and let us relax and had a cup of tea. He is always so kind, telling us to take our time, so that we do not feel pressured whether he and the driver had to wait for us to finish our breakfast because we took time to exchange currency or wait two hours outside of the theater, even though we have tried to be punctual and keep to the schedule most of the time.
It is 8 a.m. and we are checking out for more sightseeing at 9:30 p.m. I had about five hours of sleep on the couch, woke up at 4 a.m., took a shower, but now must get ready for breakfast. Unfortunately, I was unable to copy the uploaded 4 photos from AOL. We are flying to Chengdu later on to visit the Panda Reserve. Look for my other reviews od western Chinese cities. Bing from Los Angeles.
