Army of Terracotta Warriors

Reading about how a group of farmers discovered the Army of Terracotta Warriors as the farmers were digging a well cannot prepare you for the scope of the find.
We caught one of the many buses that take you about an hour or so out of Xian into an area which contain countless orchards and the side of the road contained many stalls to buy fruit from.
 We left about 8 am so we could be at the Warriors before the countless tour buses arrived.
 The first thing that struck us is how the area around the ticket stand is built up with hundreds of souvenir shops trying to sell you a replica of the warriors in every size and form.  Also was a stand with the "so called farmer" that found the warriors autographing a book on the subject. The farmer on this day looked a little bit to young to be the original farmer and further research found that the original farmers are close 80 years of age and the farmer sitting signing books looked around 40 years old !
Once past the commercialism of the area the grounds are set in nice parkland heaps of room to move.

There are 3 main pits and pit 1 being the largest with over 6000 warriors although archaeologists  believe there are so many more to discover in the many other pits. Pit 2 contains the cavalry and chariots and pit 3 is a command post with high ranking officials.
 The warriors are life size and all vary in terms of facial expressions and also the clothing and hairstyles depending on their rank in the army.
Fires years ago in the pits has caused the roof structures to crush many of the warriors so it is a slow task for archaeologists to piece them back together.

No blue sky to be seen today 

Pit 1 which is the largest

Battle Robe General Warriors

Stephen and friends

Pit 1 

Armour Knight Warriors 

Pit 1

Pit 1

Broken Warriors

Chariot wheel

Pit 1 which is the largest

Pit 2

Armour Knight Warriors 

Pit 1

Pit 3

Xian

We were very fortunate to have reality smog free days in Beijing but when we flew down to Xian which is a two hour flight from Beijing we were greeted with very heavy pollution in which we did not see blue sky once and made Xian a gloomy city.
The language barrier was stronger in Xian and getting around in a taxi was hard work as little public transport is available for a spread- out city. Even with the directions written in Chinese, the taxi driver had to ring people to find directions and at times, I felt that this also helped them to increase the cab fares.
Our main reason for visiting Xian as well as the plane load of tour groups was to see the Terracotta Warriors which are located about an hour out of the city and we could catch one of the many buses that stops off there.
Xian has a thriving Muslim quarter that was founded in the 7th century and now is a thriving area full of market stalls and places to eat. Along with countless noodle shops there were many sweet and snack sellers and we tried a sesame and peanut brittle which was very moreish.

View from our hotel room

Bell Tower

Drum Tower

Muslim Quarter

Muslim Quarter

Making the Nut brittle

Ready to cut into strips

Dim sum on the street

Mung Bean cakes 

Delivery of bones for stock

Summer Palace, Beijing

The Summer Palace was built as a retreat from the summers in the Forbidden City. It has being rebuilt twice after destruction by the French and later after a rebellion. Set on over 290 hectares the gardens and lake are popular with the locals for boating and the gardens for family gatherings . The grounds contain a recreation of a shopping street built for the Qianlong Emperor called Suzhou Street
The Tower of  the Fragrance of the Buddha is an octagonal four eaved tower which gives fantastic views of the lower pavilions and the Kunming Lake.
The lake was busy with boats that take you for cruises and with pedal boats that you could hire.

Off season is now the slack season !

Stupa at the Four Great Regions

The Tower Of the Fragrance of the Buddha

Detail on the Corridor

Kunming Lake

Dragon ferry boats on Kunming Lake

View from The Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha

The Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha

The Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha

Hall of Dispelling Clouds 

Suzhou Street

Realm Of Multitudinous Fragrance

Such detail 

Temple of the Sea of Wisdom

Glowing Clouds  and Holyland Archway

Forbidden City Beijing

The Forbidden City is certainly a popular site for tourists from around the world and also China itself. Avoiding the mass of people heading there on the weekend we both decided to go mid afternoon on a weekday when the crowds were not so bad.

The first thing that strikes you is the size of the complex which was completed in 1420. To get a complete view of the Forbidden City we walked up the hill of Jing Shan Park after viewing the Forbidden City.

As you pass through each Gate in the city you come across more to explore and there are so many areas to discover you could spend days in the city and not see it all.

The Forbidden City

Throne in Hall of Preserving Harmony

Marble bridge over the Golden Water

Hall of Supreme Harmony

Interesting roof lines

Roof Guardians

Handles on the Brass cauldrons that were filled with water in case of fire

The corner of the Hall of Middle Harmony

Imperial Gardens

Imperial Gardens

Gate of Devine Prowess

The moat around the Forbidden City

Forbidden City from Jing Shan Park

Wanchun Pavilion, Jing Shan Park

Forbidden City from Jing Shan Park

Pavilion in Jing Shan Park