China Trip Day 2 - Xian (西安) for Terracotta & City Wall

Good morning Xian!!! ...let's try something the locals eat.....

This place seems to be popular among the locals for breakfast before going to work.

Cheap & nice breakfast for about RM15 for two.

Orderly queue for bus transportation near the Bell Tower.

The nest where we stayed for 3 nights.

Michael Chen, our local tour guide took us here to see how replicas of terracotta being produced.

Apparently these replicas are made from the same local clay and burned in the kiln as the same way it was done in the olden days.

The original site at Pit 1 in Lintong District, those figurines at the front are those that have been restored from the broken pieces.

The story was back in 1974 where were a few farmers digging for well water and found pieces of these terracotta. This picture showing the actual site of the well.

A figurine that is still in the progress of restoring and normally it take 1 year or 2 to complete one.

The many nearly completed assembled figurines ... there are so many of them in term of eight thousand of them. The Authority has stopped digging for more as the discolouration of the findings is severe and are awaiting for new technology for further exploration.

The condition of the broken pieces of the terracotta warriors, horses and chariots after it has been meticulously dug out.  

Another site found and amazingly it is a very big, before these site were protected it was a village and it was only found in 1970's. 

The museum where selected items are being displayed for close viewing.

The Emperor's chariot in bronze.

Xian is the capital of Shaanxi Province, one of the oldest city in China with more than 3,000 years of history.

Our second destination of the day was the City Wall, a wall to protect the city from enemy. And we wanted to go round the entire perimeter of the wall.

Obviously walking a distance of nearly 14km would be tiring and will take a longer time to complete it. Bicycling is a better option. Here we were at a bicycle rental station.

We rented a tandem bike for a charge of ¥80 (slightly more than RM40) per 100mins with a security deposit of ¥300.

Some of the ancient buildings next the the City Wall.

Though the weather was cold but it did not deter us from cycling.... and the surfaces was uneven but fun. 

Yes!!! we completed the route comprising of 4 sides of the wall and covering a distance of 14km.