15 Jun 2018
Excellent night at the Marriott Courtyard Xi'an North. Woke up to a beautiful morning in sunny Xi'an. Air was clear and saw the sun for the first time into my day 5 of this China trip. Waiting at the hotel reception was our private car with English speaking tour guide Linda. As was got into the car was had bottled water and Linda started to explain what were going to see during the trip. First stop was Pit 1 at the Terracotta Warriors site.
Linda was great, she knew the City very well, explained the history behind each and every part of the journey and what we saw. No question was left unanswered.
At the Warriors site she accompanied us into the site and explained some of the details which we would have sure missed if they were not explained to us. For Example the black soot markings in the earth above the pits where the warriors are displayed. Linda explained that these markings were evidence of the tomb being set on fire at a point in its history after it was attacked by someone trying to loot it. After the first pit we visited the other pits and had a short stop at the shops. 2nd main attraction was the Hua Qing Palace with the pools. This was the emperor's retreat and for his concubine. Another beautiful place with lots of history. Here we also learned that the "pomegranate" fruit is the City's local fruit. We saw many Pomegranate trees within the Palace. Our last stop before returning back to the Hotel, was the City wall. The English commentary explaining each aspect of what we were seeing completed this tour. Highly, highly recommended to have a English speaking guide, such as Linda with you, otherwise you could be looking at dirt, sand, walls and concrete not understanding what the makes it what it is. A wall is wall if you don't know why it was built and what it meant. What a great day...Thank You Linda.