Trip of a Lifetime - Day 7

This is the big day. We not only start out in Xian where we will see the Terracotta Warriors, we will also get to finally see our boat! After breakfast we boarded yet another bus for an hour ride so we could get to the place of discovery for the Warriors. Xian only has 7,000,000 people, so by Chinese standards, it is not considered to be a large city!

The Terracotta Army was buried with the Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huangdi) in 210-209 BC. Their purpose was to help rule another empire with Shi Huangdi in the afterlife.

Consequently, they are also sometimes referred to as "Qin's Armies".
The Terracotta Army was discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well to the east of Mount Lishan. Mount Lishan is also where the material to make the terracotta warriors originated. In addition to the warriors, an entire man-made necropolis for the emperor has been excavated.

The figures vary in height according to their rank; the tallest being the Generals. The heights range is 184-197cm (6ft - 6ft 5in), or more than a full foot taller than the average soldier of the period. The figures were discovered in 1974 near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China.

It was a rainy day but that didn't bother us since we were going to be inside.I had a wheelchair and "driver" (finally!) and was very thankful for that as it was a big area to cover (2 large buildings) and he could get me right up front to see everything. I honestly don't know if I could have done it on my own walking.The warriors were absolutely amazing! There was an exhibition at the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth several years ago with some of the soldiers and I thought I knew what to expect, but I was certainly mistaken. The vastness of this archaeological dig, which is still going on and probably will be long after I'm gone,was indescribable. It was well worth the trip to China just to see this wonder of the ancient world.When we left there, we rushed to the airport so we could catch our flight to Chongquing, the largest city in China where we would board our boat. The city has nearly 31,000,000 people and in area is as large as Austria! The other amazing this is that it is made up mainly of 30-50 story high rises. We flew there in Deer Airlines and they really pack you in. If your flight in China is over 45 minutes long, they always feed you and serve drinks. I don't know how they get it all done, but somehow they do. The Chinese are very efficient people.

Perched on steep hills at the confluence of the Yangtze and it's major tributary, the Jialing River, Chongqing is the gateway for downstream cruises. It was the capital of China during WW2 when the "Flying Tigers" were based there.

As an aside, the numeral 8 is a very lucky number in China, especially for businessmen. The Chinese are very superstitious people so numbers play a big role in their lives. The three luckiest numbers are 6, 8, and 9. The 2008 Olympics which are to be held in Beijing will begin on August (the 8th month) the 8th day and the opening ceremonies will start at 8:00 p.m.

When we arrived in Chongquin we had another bus ride form the airport to the boat which took about an hour (of course!)

We arrived at the dock around 5:00 p.m. In order to get on the boat, we had to go through another boat (this one) and then pass security and get to our boat, the Century Sun.

After walking over the welcome mat that was on board, (and I might add that it was a very pleasant sight)

We finally got settled in our stateroom. All of the rooms on the boat had balconies and we happened to be on the port side. It was very spacious and comfortable and would be our home away from home for the next 9 days.

Our baggage had not arrived yet and as we were waiting, we looked out our balcony door across our balcony, and an amazing site greeted us (Frank had a little trouble as he was still wearing his dark glasses ;-)

Five very small Chinese gentlemen were carrying our bags down these long flights of steps on their shoulders. If you remember from a previous post, they probably had over 800 bags (that included carry-ons) to bring to the ship. Each load they carried totaled a minimum of 176 pounds!

There were at least 70 uneven, slippery steps with no banister that we had to descend and I was very fortunate to have had 2 young men who helped me down.

Once we got our bags, we unpacked, cleaned up and joined friends for a bottle of champagne and dinner.

We were going to stay after dinner and listen to some music but it had been a very long day and we were exhausted.

Tomorrow will be much easier as we won't go ashore until afternoon. Sleep well. I'm sure we will!

Pcasso