The Terracotta Warriors
Last Updated: September 18, 1998
The Terracotta warriors are about 15 miles outside of Xi'an.
Getting there can be an adventure. Your best bet is to take
a city bus (306 or 307), which will also stop at the Hot
Springs if you care to go (we didn't). Skip the tourist
buses: they take you to all sorts of fake tourist sites
(including a fake Terracotta Warrior site) and get a commission
if you pay to go in. They even take you to a fake entrance
to the Terracotta Warriors, which charges 77 Kuai that gets
you into the Terracotta Warriors (65 Kuai when we went) plus into a
(presumably) worthless room of something else.
The Terracotta Warriors are housed in three buildings, which
are really just warehouses constructed over the excavation
sites. No pictures are allowed, and you can't get close
to the statues (they are still in the excavation site), but
it's very impressive. In building 2, they have four warriors
and one horse displayed in cases, and you can look at these
statues closely.
There's also a building that houses two bronze chariots.
How did I get down here?
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