Burning Desire For FIRE

The terracotta warriors were found in 1974 by a local farmer while he was digging a well.

When he first found the statues, he thought they were ghosts, because they had natural colouring when they were first uncovered, then the colours disappeared within 3 minutes due to oxidisation.

In the last couple of years, scientists have figured out how to stop this from happening.

Here is a view of what the statues actually looked like before the oxidisation happened.

As people kept digging, they found 8,000 life-sized warriors- all with different faces. They are still digging, finding more warriors, bronze chariots, animals etc. “The emperor needed BMW for the afterlife.”

Xi’an was the ancient capital of China, so that’s why the warriors are here.

Emperor Qin  ascended the throne at 13, and died at 50. 221BC, so they are more than 2,000 years old.

The first dynasty knew how to make metal, so they took over the whole of China. They believed in an afterlife, like the Egyptians, except they didn’t do human sacrifice like in Egypt. They had an army of clay, but they were based on real people, so “There are no twins” said Maggie, our guide for today.

The farmer was paid $5 for his trouble. But he was given the duty free shop, so he makes money this way. He’s 77 years old now. Here he is, signing books for 200 yuan ($50) each and lapping up his celebrity.

There are more than 40,000 visitors here each day. On Chinese public holidays, that number doubles. The bullet trains are the main reason why visitor numbers have exploded. It’s far easier for people to travel here.

When US President Clinton came to see the warriors, the farmer was primed to say two remarks to him. The first was “How are you?” and the second was “Me too.” The farmer spoke no English so he had no clue as to what he was saying. He had to memorise the sounds.

The farmer, when he was brought out in front of all the media to meet the president, forgot exactly what to say, so he asked Clinton, “Who are you?”

“I’m the president of the USA,” said Clinton.

The farmer replied, “Me too!”

Pit 1 has 6,000 statues. Most of these are infantry. The buildings that house them are massive, and are air conditioned, which was wonderful because the temperature was a balmy 39C. People were swarming all over the place.

The emperor’s tomb is 1.5 kms behind them. They are facing outward to protect him. 

There are no weapons in Pit 1, because slaves came back after the emperor died to damage his army and leave him vulnerable in the afterlife. They weren’t all that fond of him.They smashed statues and stole the weapons. These statues are being repaired.

After opening hours is when the restoration and archeology takes place. There’s no way anyone could concentrate on their work with thousands of people jostling each other, trying to get a better view of them.

Each statue weighs between 200 and 300 kg .

This one is wrapped in plastic wrap to protect the colours from the air.

The next place we went to was Pit 3. This pit was found with only 68 soldiers. This was an animal sacrifice centre. They were using the animal bones to foretell the future.

Angry slaves got here too, as you can see.

Pit 2 has 1,000 soldiers and 500 horses. The angry slaves missed this bit, so they’ve kept them underground to preserve their colours and keep them safe. They’ve used sonar etc to work out how many warriors are down here.

The exciting thing is that there are genuine warriors in glass displays along the side wall in this pit. This one is an archer. I this is my favourite one. I bought a little one for $25 to bring home with me.

A high ranking officer. He seems a little full of himself.

A cavalryman and his horse.

I thought this guy would be a king fu guy, but he’s a standing archer. His bow, being made of wood, has rotted away.

I saw these monks going in as we were coming out.

I’m so glad I came to see the warriors. It’s a strange feeling to know that you’re looking at things that were made over 2,000 years ago. The emperor had these made for selfish reasons, but there’s no denying that his belief in the afterlife has been a goldmine for his country. There were a LOT of people there today, and as we were leaving, more busloads were arriving.

I saw this statue in the farmer’s gift shop. Buddha riding a water buffalo, apparently unruffled by the experience. How bizarre.

Here’s another bizarre statue. This one is of the youngest baby dragon, called Pichu. He is beloved by shopkeepers, businessmen and tightarses, because he eats gold, silver and gemstones, but he doesn’t have an anus so he can’t poo out any of the riches he swallows. His expression indicates that he has the worst constipation in the world.

After the terracotta warriors, we walked to a restaurant for lunch, then gathered outside. Maggie counted us all, then off we walked to the bus. We were on our way to the train station for another bullet train ride to our next stop. It was important that we didn’t miss that train!

We were at the bus when the word went out. Ross’s wife had just noticed that he was missing. omg

Maggie and one of the guys raced back to the restaurant to try and find him. Time went by…

We made it to the station with 10 minutes to spare. Apparently, he’d put his hand up for the head count, then saw something interesting in a shop. He glanced at it, and when he looked up all 39 of us had suddenly vanished.

I hope he gave Maggie a very good tip.

Blogless Sandy has been under the weather today. She’s been going on by force of will alone, because there was no way she was going to miss the warriors. It’s the highlight of the tour.

Meanwhile, I’m dowsing myself in hand sanitiser and hoping I don’t catch it.

Our next guide in Zhengzhou is called Domenic. When we arrived, it was 7:30 pm and it was still 36C. I think he’s used to dealing with tired Aussie tourists. We were on the bus not 5 minutes and he was selling cold cans of beer and water. The men were happy on the one hour drive to the hotel.

Dad Joke of the Day:

Today was our last day in Beijing. This afternoon we head off to Xian to see the terracotta warriors.

Our first stop was a Chinese herbal medicine clinic. I expected to be bored, but when they offered us a half hour foot massage for $4AUD, I suddenly changed my tune.

Omg, it was fabulous!

We also had a doctor come and feel our pulses, look at our tongues, ask a few questions about aches and pains, and then give a diagnosis. 

Mine? “Lose more weight, fatty!”

Ok, I made up that last word in the sentence. But hey, I’ve lost 9 kilos since Christmas, so I’m on the right track.

After this, we were given two hours to walk around. The Temple of Heaven was right across the road, so Blogless Sandy and I chose to walk across and look around.

Seniors get in for free. We flashed our passports and we were through. There are advantages to getting older.

It turns out that the temple of heaven is set in the middle of a huge park. The day was warm and smoggy, but it was wonderful when there were long pathways underneath huge trees. We made a beeline for the shady path and we strolled along.

It was Sunday, so the locals were taking full advantage. There were lots of family groups, with the children dressed up to the nines. Young girls were dressed in traditional clothes, ready for photographs. Aside from the occasional crying baby, everyone was smiling, in a good mood. 

It turns out that there was a boring side and an interesting side here. 

We chose the boring side to walk to first. It was pretty enough, but it was a round building with no entrance. We wandered around, but there was nothing really inspiring there.

We headed back to the other building.

Now here’s the stuff!

People everywhere. Even before we saw the temple, I was reminded of the temple we went to in Tokyo, with the crowds of people. 

We walked past the roses to climb the stairs and the smell of the roses was amazing. I don’t have a good sense of smell, so it must have been incredibly strong. There were two rose gardens in the grounds. One was full of normal roses, while the other had peonies. We didn’t see them, but there woman I was sitting next to on the bullet train showed me her photos.

I elbowed my way delicately to the front of the heaving scrum trying to see inside the temple.

From way behind me, I heard Blogless Sandy saying, “ Did you get any photos, Frogdancer?” It’s nice to travel with another iPhone user. It makes it so easy to share photos and avoid risking life and limb to both get the perfect shot. 

I enjoyed taking this shot. A family was posing for a photograph with a professional photographer, while behind them a young girl was posing for her boyfriend.

The shot of the day!

It was almost a shock to emerge from the beautiful shady greenery to the hustle and bustle of the city streets again. We had a Quick Look through a shopping mall before Tina was shouting, “Tina’s family! Bus is coming! Sticky rice!”

We said goodbye to Tina, and we’ll meet Maggie for Xi’an.

We were off to the train station to take a 5 hour bullet train ride to Xian. Tomorrow we’ll see the terracotta warriors. The weather forecast is for the high thirties, but hey. We can’t expect perfect weather all the time.

Interestingly, my friend Scott is leading a tour group through China at the moment. His group is one day ahead of us, so I’ll message him later and see how it was.

As I type this, I’m on the train. Fortunate Frogdancer has a window seat and so does Blogless Sandy. Maybe my good luck is rubbing off?

Though maybe not. Joanne, the woman sitting next to me, has just bought a package of EIGHT bananas to eat for dinner. How disgusting. They’re the worst food on earth. I hope they don’t smell too much. 

Dad Joke of the Day:

We had an early start this morning, so Blogless Sandy and I went down for breakfast 10 minutes after breakfast opened. We were stuck in a queue. Five minutes later I looked back…

Yikes! By the time we got to the head of the line, every seat was full, there was only 30 minutes to go until we needed to be on the bus, and there was a roiling mass of people around the food. Luckily, I saw the door guy had takeaway boxes. We grabbed them and went in.

Blogless Sandy and I had different strategies. She stole a fork and chose sensible options. I went for the “eat with my fingers” and so I found myself standing next to a little boy at the hot chips tray, both of us loading up with chips and chicken nuggets.
As we left the packed dining room, there was a CRASH as someone had their plate knocked out of their hands.
Of course my meal turned into Frogdancer’s sad breakfast, as I sat in our room shovelling stone cold fries in my mouth. But at least I made sure I got my strong black coffee.

This morning was the iconic Great Wall. What was even more exciting was that we were going to a jade factory first. Ever since I saw the jade bangles that a couple of women bought on the Vietnam trip, I’ve wanted one. Now was my chance.

They say that you don’t choose the bracelet; the bracelet chooses you. A bit like a cat, I guess. I went in there thinking that I’d walk out with a dark green jade, which is the colour everyone thinks of when it comes to jade. I also thought that with jade coming in A, Band C grades, I’d be happy with B.

This is the bangle that chose me:

I also may possibly have bought a pair of earrings to match.

We were back on the bus and Tina gave detailed instructions as to which gate to turn back by. “ Gate 9 is enough. You turn back then. If you go to gate 12, you’ll definitely be lost. I see you in Mongolia!”

She then asked for the passports of everyone aged over 60. “ There are lots of accidents on the wall. The people will take your information and have the ambulance on standby!”

Look at the steep incline we were led to! I messaged Lucas, and he replied with, “Steepest spots usually means best sightseeing.”

Tina’s advice is always practical. “The t-shirts from Great Wall are what I call 3 Generations t-shirt. You buy a t-shirt that fits you. You go home, wash it, it shrinks, so it fits your son. He washes it, it shrink again and it now fits your grandson!”

I clearly remember going to the Great Wall when I was on the North Korea trip in 2018. Helen’s son Matt, our North Korean tour guide, was living in Beijing at the time and so he knew the best part of the Wall to go to. The one with the chair lift up and the toboggan slide down.

Sadly, TripaDeal wants us to exercise. 

Blogless Sandy is a lot fitter than I am, so I told her to go ahead. I looked at the mountain ahead of me, remembered that really steep climb I did in Vietnam and decided I’d climb the hill to the building at the top.

Last time, I played a game with myself to take photos that looked as if the place was deserted. It was a challenge, but I got some great shots. This time?

No chance.

I was pleased when I made it to gate 8. Some of those steps were as high as my knee.

The trouble with the Great Wall is that when you reach the spot you challenged yourself to reach, there’s always another chunk in front of you. 

I climbed another chunk, then decided that I’d done enough. I went back down and decided to award myself with the same thing I did on my first Great Wall experience.

A Magnum ice cream. My first Wall started my little tradition of ice cream after every high climb or chairlift.

Then it was back into the city to go to the lake and the Hutongs.

It was a Saturday and it was packed. Tina was calling out to us, “Sticky rice! Sticky rice!” every time we crossed a road or had to push through a crowd.

I was excited when we got to the lake, though.

I’ve been here before. Matt took us here on our last afternoon in Beijing.

Everyone in Beijing was here.

The hutong doors are all like this. I remembered the doors in Zanzibar’s Stone Town.

I like looking down the lanes.

After the pedicab ride, we were let off the leash for half an hour to go shopping. Zoom in on the street… this place was packed. Tina warned us that the pickpockets here were highly professional

This is the shop where I bought a little tea caddy in 2018. It’s still here!

It’s not often that I saw a little boy in costume.

After we met up with Tina, we moved through the crowd together… “Sticky Rice! Sticky Rice!”… and we walked through the streets of the hutong quarter of town.

Hutongs are very old houses. Tina said that she lives in one, which has been in her husband’s family for 5 generations.
We were going to a family home for dinner and a surprise.

The first thing I saw when I walked through the door was Chairman Mao. I guess every autocrat has to be put in people’s houses somewhere.

The surprise turned out to be a cricket show.

Real crickets, not the game, thank goodness.

This mighty beast is called Mahammad Ali. He’s a fighting cricket. This is a “sport” that has a thousand year history. It goes to prove that people will bet on anything.

The show itself was hilarious. This guy obviously loves the spotlight and he milked it for all it was worth.

He showed us all of the paraphernalia involved with raising these crickets and in the end he showed us a video of a fight. They don’t fight to the death. They have an arena and the first cricket who forces his opponent out of the ring 3 times is the winner.

Crickets only live for 3 months, so it’s a short career.

After the show we had the dinner that our hostess cooked. It was so very good. This was an optional extra, and it was worth every penny.

We wended our way back through the streets until we met our bus.
This was a very good day.

Dad Joke of the Day:

I joined a few TripaDeal groups on Facebook when I started booking all of these holidays. This one is the Terracotta Warriors tour. The China FB groupswere explicit about a couple of things.

The flights from Australia get in REALLY late. The days are go!go!go! and the lunches and dinners are late. Blogless Sandy and I took heed and brought a whole heap of muesli and nut bars with us.

So we weren’t surprised when we arrived at our hotel at 2 am. To my surprise, Tina, our Beijing guide, started the day at 9:20, so we were able to get most of a good night’s sleep. Muesli bars stuffed in our bags, along with a couple of hard boiled eggs I souvenired from the breakfast buffet, we jumped on the bus and made our way to our first stop, Tiananmen Square.

Long time readers… very long time readers… might recall that the first time I went to England, my dear friend Scott kept telling me to look up whenever we were in gracious manors or cathedrals. This morning, I looked up to the most enormous building on the road opposite the hotel.
The longer I travel, I’m loving how things are starting to prompt memories and emotions between other trips. This morning Blogless Sandy got up and opened the curtains. I had a flashback to Banff last year when Megan got up, opened the curtains and said, “It’s SNOWING!”
In Beijing, it was more like smog. Not quite as exciting.

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square. The first thing I noticed was that there is now far more security in place than there was back in 2018. Instead of going through security once at the entrance, we had to put our bags and belongings through scanners multiple times.
Here, your ticket is your passport, so you have to be prepared to hand it over to the tour guide who will then organise admission.

The weather was very humid and hot, and all of the concrete pavers in the square weren’t helping things. People were everywhere. Tina told us that you have to book your ticket to come here many days in advance, even for Chinese citizens. This includes visiting the crystal coffin where Mao’s body lies in state. This wasn’t on offer on this tour but no matter. We did it in 2018 when you could just join the queue.

Over 1 million people have visited chairman Mao since he died. As Tina said, he’s far busier now when he’s dead than when he was alive!

We wandered through the place, taking in the sights, then Tina asked us to do a group photo. Now, I’m not a fan of these, to be honest. I know I’ll never look at it again. But she told us the REAL reason tour guides insist on taking these.

It’s because when after tours have finished, occasionally someone will claim that they didn’t go on the tour, or an optional activity, and will try and get their money back. But if your smiling face is there in the group photo, you don’t have a leg to stand on. Interesting, hey?

The left hand side is wishing the Chinese unity and longevity.

People of the world are also wished unity and longevity on the right. In other words, we hope we are a peaceful family with a peaceful world for everyone.

I like this photo because it illustrates something Tina told us. She said that to visit Tiananmen Square was a dream for many Chinese, especially those born after the 1940’s.

I didn’t take too many photos in the Forbidden City because I saw it back in 2018, so my blog posts capture it. This one was taken looking back at a door. It had 81 gold buttons on it, which you can see sticking out.
In feng shui, the number 9 is lucky. If you go through the doorway and you touch nine buttons,and then pretend to put the last one in your pocket – that brings you good feng shui. I tried it out. I’ll let you know how it goes.

It was funny wandering around the Forbidden City. I remembered so many things. I remember where to buy the tickets, where we had lunch, where I bought my brass statue of the Empress. I remember walking through the gardens and being able to get close enough to actually see what’s in the pavilions.

It was surprising to me, because I was only there for an afternoon a long time ago, but it was like seeing an old friend.

The grand entrance. It’s wonderful theatre. The way this whole place was designed to accentuate the power and majesty of the emperor is impressive.

The scale is amazing. The courtyards were intended to fit hundreds, if not thousands of people. This square was where the Emperor would give his morning audience, so the government officials would come here early in the morning.
And by ‘early’, I mean 4 o’clock in the morning. Feng shui believes that the best time to remember things starts at 4 o’clock in the morning, so that’s why the government officials came to listen to the Emperor. Personally, I think everyone in this scenario would be pissed off at the early starts, from the emperor right down to the lowliest clerk, but I suppose you can’t argue with tradition.

In the middle of the courtyard was a great big cauldron to fill up with water. They were dotted around all over the place. Tina called them ‘Asian fire extinguishers’ and we laughed. They used to be covered in gold, but the French and the British stole the gold when they came through.

Just like in Vietnam and Japan, the girls like dressing up in traditional clothes and taking beautiful photos.

The details here are beautiful. The dragons on the roof, with their tails running down. The colours of the tiles and paint, with gilding accentuating the opulence.

The shape of the pavilions.

The tiles themselves. Stunning.

Imagine being the emperor, standing here overlooking hundreds of people in the courtyard below you and knowing that they were there to fulfil your every command? It would go to your head.

Now, commoners and – even worse – foreigners flood through the doors every day. The horror!

They even bring their toddlers. Even stairs don’t deter them!

We made our way through and joined the group again at the end. Then we had an adventure. We had to jump on a city bus.

I felt sorry for the locals. Our group had 40 people, while half of another TripaDeal group jumped on as well. We rode for 5 squashy minutes until we got off and rejoined our normal bus, probably to the great relief of the locals.

After a late lunch, we went to our first optional extra. It was a stage extravaganza involving puppetry, acrobatics, thousands of litres of water all over the stage and a light show.

Also, ladies wearing live peacocks on their heads, as you can see.

It was spectacular. The guy who designed the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics designed this show ten years earlier. Some people elected not to go, which I thought was pretty dumb. They came halfway across the world and then chose to sit on a bus instead of spend $100 for a ticket to a show that would never be put on in Australia.

We went back to the hotel after this, but the best was yet to come.

Seven years ago, I taught a lovely kid called Lucas in year 8 English. At the end of that year, he and his family relocated back to China after 2 years of living in Australia. When he left, he asked if he could email me, so over the years we’ve kept in touch. Sometimes he’d ask for help with an English problem he had at school, which made me smile.

When I knew I’d be coming here, I let him know. He’s at uni now, studying in Beijing, so we caught up for dinner. I was a little worried that we might run out of things to talk about, but I needn’t have been concerned. We talked and laughed all night and I didn’t get back to the hotel until midnight.

Every teacher has a few special kids that they never forget, and Lucas is one of them for me. I am so proud of the way he’s handled living in different countries with very different cultures, and how he’s taken the best of each of them to carry with him, going forward.
He’s a terrific person and I’m so glad we were able to catch up.
God, I love travel. It’s so much fun to meet, and then catch up with friends from all over the globe!

Here’s a then and now photo:

Dad joke of the Day:

Africa, day 13: Stone Town, Zanzibar.

This Anglican church was built in 1874, on the site that was once the slave market. As soon as we got to Stone Town, we were taken here. We heard some terrible things about Zanzibar’s history, which made me a bit uncomfortable about the absolute luxury of the resort we’re staying at.

this photo you can see the Anglican Church, with the spires of a Mosque next door. Awaysu, our guide, said it demonstrates the tolerance in Zanzibar.

He also said that the name Zanzibar means “ Land of the Black man.”

This cross is covered up for Easter, but it’s a memorial to Stanley Livingstone, the famous explorer. It’s made from the wood of the tree under which he died in 1873.

Here’s what he looked like. He was big on banning the slave trade in Africa.

And here’s Stanley.

The original inhabitants had no religion. Things have certainly changed! Zanzibar is 90% Muslim, with most being Sunni ( the more relaxed ones) with 10% being Christian.

It’s funny. We were driving around and I was feeling a little unsettled. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It wasn’t the poverty – I was used to that. Then it hit me. It was the fact that every single one of the women and girls, even tiny toddlers, were veiled. This is the first time in all my travels that I’ve been to a Muslim country.

Zanzibar was ruled by Oman for centuries, which is when the Muslim religion took hold. The British took over from around the early 1800’s, which is when Christianity got a slight toe hold.

Here’s a sculpture behind the church that shows how the slaves were kept when they were brought for sale. They were treated horribly, often sold to slave traders by their own chiefs.

As many as 75 people were kept in underground cells like this, waiting for the sale days.

While there was a lot of money to be made from the slave trade, most individual slaves weren’t worth all that much, so if they got sick or died on the way over, the traders would just dump the bodies on the beach, to avoid paying tax on them. There are diary entries from Europeans describing the piles of rotting, bloated corpses on the beach, waiting for the tide to come and carry them out to sea.

These boards are from the slavery museum next to the church.

Our next stop was the fish market. I’m not sure if you can see the clouds of flies on and over the fish. We had to be careful where we stepped, as they hose down the floors and there were puddles of fishy water.

This is the first place I’ve ever felt where I should tuck my bag up under my armpit as I walked through. There was a man in a green t shirt following us- Maria spotted him – and I thought I’d feel more comfortable with my bag tucked closer to me. Somewhere along the way he peeled off and disappeared, so my bag went down by my side again.

Then we were off for a walk around Stone Town.

Stone Town is known for its doors. The rounded ones are of Arab influence…

… while the square ones are Indian.

Do you see the spikes? They are there from back in the day, when elephants were used in the streets of Stone Town. They would sometimes lean against the doors and sometimes the doors would cave in. They put spikes to dissuade the elephants. Nowadays, of course, it’s tradition and for fun.

There’s a love of colour here in Africa.

It’s very humid here. I can’t help feeling that the women here would be terribly hot every time they stepped out of their houses and had to put the extra layers on.

We wandered around, following Awaysu like ducklings.

Some alleyways were nearly empty, while in others we had to step aside for motorbikes or men handling wheelbarrows loaded with bags of cement.

Maybe this little girl is from a Christian family. She was one of the few girls I saw without a scarf.

Look at me being artistic! This is an alley going through a tunnel:

Stone Town is old, full of buildings that are crying out for renovation. It has a UNESCO heritage listing, which the government in Tanzania is doing their best to retain for tourism.

The buildings are designed to catch every breeze.

The shopkeepers were inviting us in:

”Easter special!”

”Small shop, small price!”

”This is very true for me!” Said Awaysu, chuckling. On the way back to the resort, he was telling us how parents arrange the marriages between their children. You are not allowed to choose for yourself. If the parents don’t approve, or can’t agree on a dowry, then the marriage doesn’t take place.

Kids.

I took this photo because it reminded me of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.

We emerged from Stone Town to walk along the harbour.

These boys earn money by holding up signs with people’s names, or Welcome to Zanzibar!’ as they jump into the water.

it was fun.

The weather was balmy, there was a sea wind blowing and it was beautiful.

Cats are tolerated here, probably because they’re useful. “They are called Zanzibar lions,” said Awaysu.

This man apparently turns up every evening to feed the harbour cats. He called and they all came running. He had names for each of them.

Dogs are regarded as unclean animals. “Only rich people have a dog, and they keep them inside. If a dog is on the street and it touched someone’s leg or sniffs someone, they stone it to death. It’s unclean. “

I thought of Scout, of course…

Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar in this house. It’s illegal to be gay here, but once the government realised that they could make money from it, they conveniently overlooked this fact and opened the museum. We didn’t go in, but we all had our pictures taken out the front.

As we were getting back into the van to go back to the resort, I saw the silvery water of the harbour.

We were having a late dinner at the Asian restaurant on the beach back at the resort when someone noticed the sunset.
All this, and inclusive alcohol too! I haven’t been drinking on this holiday, but if it’s free, then I’ll have a couple of reds with dinner.

Tomorrow we head back into town.

Dad Joke of the day: