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08:00am start today as we were off to see the Terracotta warriors! Luke ordered 2 eggs and a bit of toast but the hour the chef had to cook before the coach left wasn't long enough, although 3 other people had full English breakfast's even though they'd ordered sometime after Luke (Much to the amusement of everyone bar Luke). The tour started with 12 of us taking a mini bus to one of the factories to see the replica warriors being made along with some background info from our tour guide 'Sky'. We then left the factory and boarded the bus to see the real thing. Firstly, we made our way to pit one, where the majority of the soldiers resided. Like a few thing's in life, it's very hard to explain but it was truly a 'wow' moment. Although there weren't as many soldiers uncovered as I had anticipated, it was nonetheless unbelievable. The shear audacity of the Emperor Qin who built the army which consists of 10,000 unique soldiers (If the two soldiers were the same, Emperor Qin would have the worker who made them executed) only to bury the soldiers, as he believed it would give him the power to rule the underworld when he died. We were allowed 45mins to walk around to take pictures but lost track of time and exited pit 1 to find our group waiting on us..woops.
We then made our way to pit 2, which contained horses and guards and on to pit 3 which hasn't been touched because they do not have the skills and resources to uncover the warriors with out discoloring them. I couldn't help but think they should pull their finger out as it was over 40 years ago since a local farmer had discovered them in 1974. We then headed back to our bus only to lose the group again (even though we were on a one way path) Steve, Luke, Brittany and I eventually found them and we made our way to all you can eat buffet for dinner.
After dinner, the majority of group headed back to the hostel but Steve, Luke, Brittany, Tom, Sophie, Sue and myself headed to the park to see the the big goose pagoda. On the way back, we opted for public transport and queued with the ten thousand locals. The bus arrived and it turned out to be a gladiator-like tussle just to win a place on the bus. Once back at the hostel, we got changed and then headed to the Ming Dynasty show. Not sure why or how but we were lead to the our VIP seats, smack bang in the middle of the theater. The next hour consisted of drinking cheap wine and eating many a dumpling, including a delicious walnut dumpling which tasted like a warm fig roll. The show itself was really good and we lift slightly tipsy and in high spirits. Back at the hostel, we headed straight for the bar and ordered a few beers and 10 shots for 100juan. In party mood, we gathered up a group of people and headed to Club Loco. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur but judging from the photo's, it looked like we had a quality night. I do remember leaving Club Loco and heading to McDonald's and with the help of Luke the translator, started talking to a Chinese girl called money (I kid you not!) We didn't stay long but on the way home, we saw a Chinese guy run up and boot a girl who had been sitting on the floor. We went back to sort it out only to be told by his friend that they were married and it was ok. We told them that it wasn't and the girl's friend put her in a taxi. We finally made it home around around 04:30am.
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