Easter Break - March 2010

China does not celebrate Easter, but this year Easter weekend coincided with Qing Ming (Pronounced "Ching Ming" - Chinese Tomb Sweeping Holiday which is similar to our Memorial Day in the US). We took this opportunity to travel to Xi'an (pronounced "She-on") and visit the famed Terra Cotta Warriors housed there.

A local farmer dug up pottery fragments digging a well in 1974 and ultimately around 8000 life sized pottery warriors and horses, are believed to have been buried as part of a Chinese Emperor's mausoleum over 2,200 years ago. Probably around 2500 warriors, horses, and chariots have been painstakingly restored over the last 36 years. Only a small portion of the total site has been uncovered, and much of the remaining site will remain buried until technology advances are found to allow better preservation of the paint on the soldiers as they are removed. Most of the extremely bright colors flake off during the excavation. We took about 4 hours to tour the site and museum with a tour guide. The whole thing was quite unbelievable. At the end of our day we met the local farmer who originally found the site and who now works at the museum. Kayla was excited when he signed her Xi'an picture book just as we were getting ready to leave.

Xi'an itself is an ancient city and we spent one afternoon riding atop the city wall on tandem bicycles. The weather was good and the kids were excited to "pedal" with us. McKenna couldn't really reach the pedals so she mainly just went along for a ride. Kayla was able to help though. The city wall completely circles the city and is around 8 miles long. We did it in about 1.5 hours then found some ice cream.

Other activities we enjoyed included watching kite flying in the park, visiting an ancient pagoda, and walking through a Muslim mosque and outdoor meat market. We saw our share of Cow liver & hearts heaped up on tables for sale. Needless to say, we opted for a Japanese restaurant that night. I'll take sushi over goat intestines any day.

A Great shot of the girls