Xian

The flight from the US to China takes around 14 hours. The train from Xian to Tianjing takes 20. The trip back to Nankai was definitely an experience. We slept in hard beds, stacked vertically three to a wall. From the sheer amount of people at the train station and on the train itself, it seems this form of transportation is much more popular here in China than it is in the US. Riding that train was quite the experience. Jam packed as it was with sweaty people, the odor was quite unpleasant. Add to that the constant chain of smokers and the smell wafting down the hall from the bathroom, and it was near repulsive. However it was a fantastic opportunity to talk to Chinese people. Everyone was willing to talk to the foreigners, if only to kill time on the exhausting trip. I talked to one old lady who seemed very concerned for my wellbeing. She advised me not to wear contacts when I attend bonfire parties. I told her that in America we don’t frequently throw bonfire parties and thus my chances of encountering one were slim and she seemed slightly appeased. Of course, we couldn’t always understand each other perfectly, and there were times when our conversation partners would laugh at us for unknown reasons, but this just added to the intrigue of talking to complete strangers in their native tongue. All in all the train ride was a very interesting experience, worth having at least once in your life.

Xian itself was a ton of fun. Its crazy imagining that so much work was put into the making of one emperors tomb. 8000 soldiers were hand crafted solely to protect the dead body and spirit of the emperor. There’s almost no way any one person in the world today could have that much manpower put into the creation of a perfect tomb. The actual tomb itself has never been opened or directly observed because of the tons of mercury flowing inside of it. Unlike other ancient graves, it was probably not plundered because any thieves who dared to enter would be killed by the mercury. It would be amazing to be able to see just what is inside the emperor’s tomb. Stories depict it as full of treasure, with replicas of the city and palaces, jewels in the ceiling marking constellations, and models of rivers full of mercury. If so much effort was put into the making of the soldiers which guard him, than the tomb housing his body must be glorious indeed.