こんばんは。This evening after dinner, we strolled down the promenade from our hotel to the Great Wild Goose Pagoda. The wide walkway is very nice in the daytime, with statues and other cool things to look at, but at night it transforms into a huge party, with music performances, shopping, dancing, beauty shows, etc. It is pretty amazing! The colors and energy are intense.

One thing that I noticed that I like doing is taking photos of people enjoying themselves. I guess it is kind of a street photography style? I don’t know, but taking photos of people taking photos and selfies is so meta. Please take a look at some of the images:

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こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today was one of the highlights of our trip to China: seeing the Terracotta Warriors of Xi’an. Pit #1 was absolutely stunning. As you can see in the photo at the top of the post, the actual structure is huge! To see the large army of individual statues lined up was breathtaking.

Our tour guide explained about the discovery of the army, the restoration, the in the statues, etc. It was fascinating to also learn that the wooden parts had all disappeared because of the decomposition due to the soil. All that is left was the terracotta, which was fired in a kiln, and the metal parts of the weaponry such as the blades and arrowheads.

In other parts of the exhibit, we saw figures in various states of restoration, from discovery to completion. It seems like such painstaking work, and it looked like there is a ton to be uncovered still. I can imagine that it could be a dream come true to be able to work on the restoration if you were in that field.

After viewing the Terracotta Army, we went to a terracotta workshop, where we watched a short demonstration on how terracotta is made, and then, of course, there’s a huge shop for you to purchase souvenirs. We also enjoyed a buffet lunch, of which the best dish was the fresh noodle bowl. It was fun to watch the chef create the noodles right in front of you. And the taste was delicious! Couple that with the local beer, and I didn’t really need anything else from the buffet table.

We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon and had a few hours to spare before dinner so we took a walk to the nearby mall. Normally, I don’t like to go to malls, but I find malls in unfamiliar countries to be fascinating. Things are familiar, but always with a local twist. And of course, I love the local ads:

I don’t know exactly what is being advertised, but it’s so cool to see the everyday local flavor.

I took the following photo of Chinese-labeled Kewpie and sent it to Mariko. She told me she didn’t need me to buy any souvenirs from the trip, but after seeing the photo she gave me my marching orders to pick up some Kewpie and also some local stir-fry seasoning packs. I’ll see if I can find some in Shanghai before the trip is over.

It was a great day in Xi’an, and the evening activities are still to come! But I’ll end the daytime part with a couple more photos:

またね～

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