Warriors, Horses and an Emperor

The man and I are not good tourists. We do not feel the need to visit cultural and historical landmarks in our travels. Rather, we much prefer to stay in the city and take in the street scene. Having said that, we still feel some small compulsion to at least visit the most important site of any new travel destination.

So, for Xi'an, we made the obligatory pilgrimage to the Museum of Qin terracotta warriors and horses and the nearby Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi.

The day started at zero degree C and rapidly fell to -7C. Needless to say, we did not loiter. At the terracotta warriors site, we stayed long enough to walk through all 3 excavated pits. We climbed about 2 sets of steps at the Qin Emperor's mausoleum. We took enough pictures to show that we were actually there braving the bitter winter wind. My fingers turned blue and threatened to drop off. And I was bundled in a full winter coat complete with head cover and gloves. Two hours total of this cultural immersion was enough to last us a lifetime.

I don't get how some tourists want to hear every minute detail ad nauseam about the sites from taped recordings or worse, hire those irritating professional guides who yammer non-stop in your face.

I know. We are such philistines.