Weather update, IV Ides Mar

Here we are 3 days from the Ides of March and this is the view of the Polar Vortexian Dystopia this morning.

The reader may note that this is very much like the pictures from January when the big polar vortex sucked its way into town. While nice to look at as scenery

but it’s the Ides of March. Those little yellow flowers are suppose to be coming up out of the ground. The resident female cardinal seems to have had enough.

And this Red Bellied Woodpecker is totally WTF. Any woodpecking today would bury him in snow.

Really, the Ides of March are to be the time for spring break, well maybe not for the Ceasar guy, but for those of us in the snow belt.

The 4 day weekend trip stop #2, Xi’an

The 4 or 5 hour high speed train trip got us from Beijing to Xi’an, in the middle of China. Xi’an was the ancient capitol of China for over 1000 years. It was the home of the first emperor of a unified China, which is the dude that had the Terracotta guys built. That is what we went there to see. The Lantian man was found just south of Xian and dates back 500000 years. A 6500 year old neolithic village was found just outside the old city. Xi’an was the eastern beginning of the silk road trade route. To make a long story short this is a place that has been around for awhile.
We got there late afternoon and in the evening went to center city to the food street. Now this is not a street of McDonald’s or Texas Roadhouse but is about 2 miles of food stalls in what is called the Muslim area. It was wet snowing and cold. The stalls were pretty much mystery meat on a stick type places. All I had was my phone camera to record this event.

These guys were banging on nuts with really big hammers

The next day was the big trip to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Haung the first Emperor of a unified China and the guy that thought up the Qin Dynasty. Also ancestor to the famous China guy Won Haung Lo. As soon as he became Emperor around 246BC he started building his mausoleum and the Terracotta Army to protect it. This involved about 700000 workers. There are an estimated 8000 solders and also horses and chariots. Also found in this area and near the tomb (that has not been opened yet) are hundreds of skeletons that are believed to be the artisans that crafted the army and other items. Upon the emperors entombment it is believed that the workers were locked in the tomb area to prevent knowledge of the site to get out. Just goes to show what happens when you have a conservative Republican labor relations board. To get into the area you walk through a small village and through a park like area.

Posing in the park area
A suitable for framing picture of artsy trees
Upon entering pit 1 this is what you see. Guys in front been restored, pits still being excavated, and way at the back guys being worked on.

The hair style, the uniforms all had meaning as to rank and function. All had weapons but they disintegrated, were looted, or some were recovered.
The initial line guarding the entry gate

Trench being worked
An archer and so far the only one found unbroken.
All the figures were painted but the paint flakes off as soon as it is exposed to air. The archer still has some left
Crazy attention to detail

Soon it was out into the weather to do some other sightseeing.

The weather was delightful

We were going to go to some temple on top of some mountain but the weather just wouldn’t allow that. As a consolation we posed in front of a statue thing depicting an Emperor and his concubine girlfriend dancer that was to be the most beautiful woman in China at the time.

Emperor on the left dancing lady in the middle. Don’t know the other people

The next day it was a local museum that had 6500 years of history. Walking to get there we noted the local wiring code.

Finally, at the museum Randi and Chris are attacked by a giant duck.

Our last stop in Xi’an was to go look at the wall that gores clear around the old city. When you consider that this area has seen a lot of turmoil over the years and especially during the 20th century with the overthrow of the emperors and a couple wars with Japan and then the whole Chairman Mao thing the local area had a lot of history destroyed but the wall is still standing.

On the way back to the hotel we had to stop at a food vendor, not snow-cone, pop-cycle, popcorn, or hot dog but some potato thing from a 2000 year old cooker.

The next morning Randi and Chris were back to Beijing as they had a lot of food they were required to eat before returning to the US and we went back to Zhuhai for the rest of the week.