Xi'an and the Warriors

Greetings from Beijing! At last we are here! We just arrived yesterday at noon, and checking into our hotel and getting settled in took all afternoon (we are a large group now - 650 people who all arrived yesterday. ) I have not had computer access until now, and no free time on top of that!

Yesterday we flew in from Xi'an, the Ancient Capital in the central area of China. Our group was thrilled to see the famous site where over 7,000 terra cotta warriors were discovered by a farmer drilling for water (in 1979). Tom and I were rather shocked when we walked in; we have been there twice before, and it seemed to us that over half of the warriors were gone!

We asked our guide, and she said, "Oh, yes, they are touring all over the world". So, the site was not so impressive to us, but our group didn't know the difference and we didn't say anything.

Tom's daughter Wendy bought this warrior, the one she is cuddling up to on her right. The museum, which is part of the site, has beautiful and authentic items for sale, for a price. She is thrilled with her new "friend" and the purchase price includes shipping, which is lucky because our suitcases are already overweight and stuffed to the gills with just clothes! Plus, this guy weighs a lot!

Airlines in China charge for overweight bags, and so far most of us have left them with plenty of extra yuan.

Backtracking just a little:

I would like to say a few words about the wonderful opening ceremony on August 8th. China is so proud, and they should be. There were 15,000 costumes in 47 different styles (that means 47 costume changes), and there were 20,000 performers out on that field at one time. Four billion people were watching around the world.

The movable-type portion of the ceremony took ten months of practice with 900 performers involved, and when you saw the dove of peace you were seeing the result of 13 months of practice for one short portion of the show. All costumes were lighted.

Two hours worth of music for the show was done by 18 composers, there were 92,000 people in the audience, and the huge globe that Sarah Brightman and the other singer stood on took 12 months just to design. It weighs 16 tons.

We, of course, couldn't go because we were in Hong Kong, but we are going to TRY to get tickets to the closing ceremony. The Chinese people have got the dibs on the majority of tickets to all events, so it is very hard for anyone else to get tickets now. I had breakfast this morning with a nice couple (Tom and Carol from California) who arrived here August 6th, just hoping they could get Opening Ceremony tickets. No luck.

Yesterday was a sad day for the gymnastic team from the U.S. - we saw this on TV last night. We get a HEALTHY dose of TV covering only the Chinese athletes, and the only language is . . . . guess which one? We get re-runs and then more re-runs, and then some more of the same.

Another word about Hong Kong: the city is an island of 400 square miles, and much of it is reclaimed land from the sea. The only way to grow is UP, so buildings are very tall, as I hope you saw earlier. We saw a triple-decker driving range, and passed by the barracks of 3,000 Chinese Liberation Army police who are in Hong Kong "unwanted"; they can't come out of their barracks. They don't use "one drop of Hong Kong water" or one item of food, according to our guide. Everything they use comes from mainland China - and why they are there is unclear to me, as they really aren't welcome.

I will close now, and edit the photos I just took on my tour of the Forbidden City here in Beijing. That will be my next post.

Greetings from a very rainy Olympic City.

Carol

All is well with Tom, his daugher Wendy, and me. They are all ready for our tour today, so I have to rush off and do the same.

More later, Carol