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Bicycle Tour Adventure #32: China Page 12
Day 12: Touring China by Bicycle;
Today, We Visit Xian's Terracotta Warrior Army,
Drum Tower, Bell Tower, and Ancient Bazaar
(of the Muslim Market from the Silk Road Days).
[Xian in English is pronounced Shee-on]
Terracotta Warrior Army, Xian, China.
Bell Tower of Xian, China.
Gateway to Xian's Muslim Bazaar (maybe dating back to the ancient Silk Road trading times).
Day 12 Begins
Above Right: Where the Emperor's Chariot was dug up. The buildings with roofs are just the entrance, the big wall is the Front of the Main Building (its HUGE) and is the 2nd largest building. The Terracotta Army is under the largest roof (I'm guessing 12 acres, about 3x4 Football Fields!)
Xian was the Beginning or the Ending of the Great Silk Road Trade Route (which more or less went to Verona, Italy). Xian is where Marco Polo met the Emperor of China, Kublai Khan (of Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), probably in the late 1200s.
Above Right: Diorama depicting that there is a man made mountain, south of town and west of the dig, that many Chinese History scholars suspect is a Royal Tomb which may or may not be related to the Terracotta Soldiers. Note that Xian was the governing location of eighteen of the twenty known imperial dynasties - one would expect to find relics underground, it's a problem/issue similar to digging around Rome.
Above Right: Another multi-acreage view of the Terracotta Army and this is the main building site with two more sites of about the same size and then a few smaller digs have been discovered.
Above Right: Former Xian Cave Dwellings.
Above Right: The South Gate to the walled city of Xian.
The Bell Tower is used for Time, mainly for the changing of the Guard but also for special announcements or celebrations. The Drum Tower (about 500 meters to the west) is only used for Alarms, like an Attack or a Fire. During the dynasty ruling days, the Bell tower and the drum tower were likely the two tallest structures.Above Right: One of the Bells displayed at the Bell Tower. The Drum Tower happens to be in this picture, directly behind the right most wood support for the bell.
Above Right: A Bell Tower Music Show (lucky timing on our part).
Above Right: Xian Drum Tower Drum.
Above Right: Drum Tower Structure.
Above Right: This part of the Bazaar was covered. We were busy shopping for a Group Gift Exchange (for tomorrow night). It is noteworthy that there was nothing at the Bazaar that we had not already seen at the Yangshou resort area.
Above Right: Dinner was good; this is an after picture.