Another 30 hours on the train brought us to Xian, former Chinese capital, famous for its myriads of Terracotta warriors. As most of you probably know, they were sculpted to protect the first emperor’s tomb about 2000 years ago.
It is incredibly fascinating to study their faces, hairstyles, clothes and different positions that have been crafted to such detail.
They have found about 2000 of them so far, but there are thought to be roughly 8000 figures, which they are still excavating.
These Hannibal Lecter looking lot are being restored.
They used to be painted, which you can still see some traces of. They’ve even paid attention to the shoe soles!
The warriors are obviously a very static bunch, in contrast to the very dynamic city of Xian. We love this kind of hustle and bustle! It makes me so happy that I can now enjoy it again, after having experienced severe stress related symptoms for the past year.
This region is famous for its pomegranates. One of those photogenic fruits that food stylists never seem to get enough of. I think it is often mentioned as a “super food” as well? The orthorexics have so shanghaied that word, I used to love the thought of antioxidants. Grumble.
Noodle twisting and turning.
Contemplating wether to buy scary monsters or super creeps.
My former food hygiene professors would not approve of this, that much I remember from those classes.
This is some kind of fruit that they have forced to grow into Buddha shapes. I am not sure if the Buddhists approve of such torturous methods.
We sat people watching and mentioned that this guy looked like a proper Hong Kong mobster when he suddenly pulled up a gun! When the adrenaline rush settled, we realised it was a lighter that he thought of buying. Something tells me he wouldn’t mind our prejudiced views of his appearance.
A member of the Chinese version of Hell’s Angels (?) thinking of ingesting some kind of hooves.
This is our third time in China, in total we have spent several months in this country, and we love it, but we will never ever get used to their spitting habits. There is constant fierce spitting all around; phlegm, discharge, sputum and spit infest every street of China. I have developed a perfect blurry downward stare, I see enough not to step in it but not the actual content.