Unlike anything I've ever seen

Today we checked our bags with a bit of trepidation and headed off to Xi'an. Easy flight and pickup. We went directly to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, located about 30 miles from the city center.

For those not familiar with the story, a group of farmers were digging a well for their pomegranate orchard and found a few pieces of what were obviously clay figures. Archaeologists did some digging and found that the 3rd Century BC Emperor Qin had created a huge army of clay soldiers to guard his tomb. They've now dug up quite a bit of it. I uploaded a few pictures at

China

It is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. There's a pit the size of 2 football fields full of columns of soldiers in full battle gear, horses, chariots, all facing the enemy to the east.

The soldiers are incredibly lifelike. Every face is different. They all look resolute and ready to face whatever may come. By now, most if not all of them are in pieces, either from deliberate looting and destruction or by natural processes, but they've put many of them back together like a bunch of 3d jigsaw puzzles and left a lot of the pieces in place. The cumulative effect is breathtaking.

Tomorrow we're off to Tibet, which is pretty scary because of its remoteness and altitude. Not really sure how we'll feel physically. In any event, when we arrive tomorrow we're supposed to sit around for the rest of the day just getting used to the altitude, so I'll have a chance to catch up on writing about what else we've seen and done.