The price of the Eastern Tour jumped faster than
Jim Beam could update his brochures. 285 yuan is
today's price for a bus load of tourists wanting to see thousands of statues. Ask yourself, why take a tour?
Elen, our tour guide, cut loose with her immense knowledge in a spiel that lasted all the way to... the first of the
morning attractions. Some museum place inside an old Tang dynasty? architecture building with a pair of stone lions -
that look more like dogs with fleas; - patting various parts brings love, wealth, beauty, etcetera. The
Huaqing pools once were working hot springs. Nowadays they're
just a whole lot of holes!
Some crappy jade factory was next, followed by a stop at a tomb where we watched a song and dance. Then lunch in the rather bad service restaurant.
Finally we arrived at the excavation pits of the army of terracotta warriors. If you paid attention in history class, watched the
Hero movie or did any research on
UNESCO world heritage sites, you'd find the
first emporer of a unified China is the one and only Qin Shi Huang. Uniting the states, standardising the currency and the written script, and linking city walls (starting
The Great Wall), road and canal networks are some of the impressive feats acheived during the brief Qin dynasty.
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