Terracotta Soldiers, oh my!

As my china trip continued with my aunt, our next stop was Xian. We checked into our hotel near the city centre ( Gran Noble Xian ) Xian is so full of history. It is famous for the Terra-cotta Soldiers. ( UNESCO World Heritage Site ) If you haven’t heard of the Terra-cotta soldiers, they are a collection of terra-cotta sculptures depicting armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. He commissioned this for his burial ground as protection once he passed on. Each solder is life sized, and is completely unique. The most interesting thing about this site, is that it was only discovered in 1974 by local farmers. This site holds more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses. These are estimates because the site is still being dug up. It truly is a site to see.
When visiting the Terra-cotta soldiers, be prepared to be amongst a lot of tourist. The reality is, anyone who comes to China should go see it regardless of the crowds.
After this visit our tour guide took us to visit the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a Buddhist pagoda and was built during the Tang Dynasty. The details of this site are incredible. One of the things that impressed me the most about all the sites we were visiting were how OLD they are. This was built in the year 649. Although it has gone through some renovations, the tower still has most of its stone facade.
In between all of these sites, we would stop and get some street food. ( I am a very daring person ) and we also went to one of the farmers restaurant who actually found the Terra-cotta solders! We got to meet him too, as he was signing books! His life changed completely once him and his friends found this national treasure.
At night, we ventured off to take a walk around the city. This city is bright with lights and has some incredible shopping. Some of the shopping centres were so large, I think it would take days to just see all of it. After all the exploring, we took a good nights rest and headed off to Shanghai! ( click on the link for Shanghai )
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