I'd heard about this and thought it'd be great to see, but the site was so far from Beijing, I didn't think it was possible. Several other people in the group were interested, so we caught a train to go there for a day. The train ride was about 10 hours each way, but it was an overnight trip, nonstop, with sleeper cars, so it really wasn't bad.
When we got to the city of Xi'an, we found it very crowded and busy.
A policeman monitors traffic at the center of an intersection. Police apparently have corporate sponsorship in China.
The Terracotta Army site was about an hour bus ride outside of the city. The pits from where the warriors have been excavated are in huge covered structures. Not all of the warriors have been excavated. A very large amount of them are still buried. Some of the warriors have just been uncovered and haven't been pieced together.
(Click to embiggen!)
After touring the site, we went back to Xi'an. There, we saw the city from the top of the old city wall. Xi'an is a pretty big city, about 2.6 million. The city extends way beyond the wall. Now the wall perhaps marks "downtown" versus the suburbs.
You can rent bicycles and ride around on the top of the wall. It's about 14 km. around, but part was closed for repairs.
Next to the wall are parks, public exercise equipment, and other recreational space.
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