BootsnAll Travel Network



Warriors, Wallets, and Wushu

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I’m now in Xi’an which, like Pingyao, is a city surrounded by an ancient wall. Xi’an was the capital of China thousands of years ago, but today it is famous for the Terra Cotta Warriors. The Terra Cotta Warriors were only recently discovered, in 1974, by a farmer digging a well. There were originally 8,000 warriors, each made by hand and unique (no warrior has the same face), which were buried with the emperor to protect him in the afterlife. Today this is one of the most popular tourist attractions in China. As with any tourist attraction in China, it was extremely crowded and commercialized, but amazing nonetheless.

I’ll be leaving Xi’an this evening for the province of Zhengzhou, where I’ll be studying martial arts for the next month or so. I’m not sure about internet access, but I’m sure if it’s not available at the school, I’ll stumble across it in town every once in a while. My entries will probably be a little less frequent and will include more writing than pictures, but don’t give up on me because I’ll be continuing on to The Great Wall, Tibet, and Thailand in about a month.

In some bad news, I lost my wallet yesterday. I’m not sure if I misplaced it or if it was stolen, but I don’t have it anymore. Being the optimist that I am, I figure there was really no better time to lose it as I’ll be at the same address for the next 5 weeks where I can get some new cards sent to me. I’m also very glad it wasn’t my passport or memory card because losing either of those would have been much worse. The good news is that I only had 20 yuan (about $3.00) in my wallet so I’m not out any cash, but the bad news is that I lost my 2nd class train ticket, so it’s back to a 3rd class hard seat for me this evening!! Keeping it all in perspective, it’s just a small bump in what has been a fantastic journey.

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Myself and The Warriors

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A shameless tactic to get tourists to buy an overpriced photo a few steps closer to the warriors. Shameless.

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The city of Xian

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On top of the Xian city wall

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The Pingyao city wall

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Creeping across the road in Pingyao

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A little culture and a bike on the streets of Pingyao

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Pingyao

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Detail of the painting that wrapped around the room in the Pingyao guesthouse

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Whether it’s Mah Johng, Cards, or Checkers, something is always going down on the streets of China

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Alley in Pingyao (can you tell I like Pingyao??:-)

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A blooming lotus flower



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2 responses to “Warriors, Wallets, and Wushu”

  1. matt says:

    its more you than the warriors…

  2. Scott says:

    Can you bring one of the warriors home? It would look cool in my front yard, holding a little latern.

    Sorry about your wallet. Maybe you were stalked there by the frustrated Mongolian purse-snatcher.

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