:: Life of a software engineer, and now a program manager ::

:: Saturday, May 11, 2002 ::

Now watching Autumn in New York, Winona Ryder is a beau! If it hadn't been the trial she's having now(something about her pickpocketing dresses), then I will have a better impression of her. And Richard Gere! Whoa, sexy man of the year! Too bad he's starting to have wrinkles...bad bad sign...
Nothing much to watch here except for National Geo and Starworld...

:: Mich 8:31 AM [+] ::
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Saturday is the most 'lepak' day during this trip, so Mr.G and I went sightseeing in Xi'an. Went to see terra cotta warriors(RMB65), quite worth it as there were 3 pits to see.(before that we went to YangLing tomb, not worth it at all(RMB60) and see nothing other than small terra cottas). The history of terra cotta warriors goes back to as old as 2200 years ago, back in Ching dynasty. I was kinda impressed with the fact that the ppl those days know how to use colors to paint the warriors. Most of the colors have oxidised, and only three so far was preserved the way it was (actually the archeologists managed to dig out more than that, but 3 days after they were exposed, the colors just faded.) Till now they do not know what ingredients were used to make the colors. We went round the place and bought an informative book about terra cottas, personally signed by the farmer who was the first person who discovered the terra cotta site. He is now 76. Oh yeah, we hired a tour guide coz Mr.G doesn't understand Mandarin at all(RMB50). But I dare not stand near him coz I think Chinese here brush their teeth once a week...:P
And they have successfully recovered two bronze chariots, the first one has four horses, with the horseman(couldn't find a better name for him..:P) riding a chariot at the back, and a 'flexible' umbrella. This umbrella can be adjusted at different angles to protect the horseman from the sun. The second chariot looks like a tortoise (which means longevity), and is specially made for the emporer. The four horses are bigger and stronger, and the chariot wheels have 30 wooden beams(??) that represents 1 month. The emperor believes that the 30 days represents his age, and with the wheels continue turning, it shows that he will have a long life. In pit 3, some of the Han Dynasty tomb were found. This shows that the Chinese believe that the site is very good for burial (good feng shui), even in different dynasties.
On the way out, we went to buy strawberries, but was conned by that woman. She said that it would be RMB2 for each pound, but she didn't even weigh it. And the worst thing is that when I gave her RMB5 for change, she just snatched it and added a few more strawberries in (And when I say few, I really meant FEW, about 4 more). Really kena conned for nothing. One lesson learnt, never never buy anything from the roadside, and when you really need to buy, give them exact change. But RMB5 was still cheap (RM 2.50 for strawberries), where can u find it in Msia?
Anyway, the next stop was ShiHuangTi's tomb(RMB 26). That man really has got face, hos tomb is situated in a hill (apparently very good feng shui), and there was a vast area with piping system (imagine them having big cylindrical clay pipes 2200 years ago). That was pretty impressive too, although I don't know its use in a tomb. The tomb was never opened to public at all, because the Japanese archaeologists found very high content of mercury inside it.
Another medicine to prolong his life, I think. Nothing much to see here other than a beautiful garden...
After that, we went back to Xi'an city to eat. "Yang rou pau muo" is the most famous dish in Xi'an, so we went to try that. Btw, it's a Muslim dish. Siao An, our taxi driver, treated us(we wanted to pay him back but he said no), so eventually, we paid him more fo the taxi fare (RMB 320), coz he was pretty nice to bring us around and patiently waited for us.
Forgot to mention one thing, the dish sucked! :P Well, not as tasty as I hoped it'll be, so no next time for me! Mr.G said the same thing...:)
Then we went to "Shu Yuen Men" (pronounced as Mer by the locals), to buy some souvenirs. I bought a set of terra cottas for RMB15! Dirt cheap, only because Siao An was the one who asked for me. If I open my mouth, guarantee they will charge me more than that. I don't understand why they can differentiate me with the locals. Maybe because of my dressing...or my lousy Mandarin (hey, at least I know how to order food!). Then bought two bracelets for my mom. Didn't buy anything for my brothers, haiya, no need wan la, will be sufficient to just buy them food, those oinks...:)
Last stop, historical museum of Xi'an(RMB36, or more???), where I get to see wine vessels, wine heaters, and more terra cottas. They show from Ching, Han, South-North, Wei, Tang, Sung, Yuen to Ming dynasty. Interesting place, coz they show the evolution of tools and utensils used. And the costumes are different as well. From what I understand, religions only came in during the South-North dynasty. And the way they dressed were also different. The pottery evolved from clay to bronze and silver. Too bad we had to leave early because they close at 5.00pm.
That basically covered what I did today. Actually I wanted to go online yesterday to express my scary experience with the Chinese taxi drivers here, but the stupid line keeps disconnecting me. Anyway, just to make the story short, we took a city taxi back to our hotel. Basically there are 3 groups of taxis, the red kancil-like(smallest, most dangerous), the green kancil-like (bigger, but still dangerous), and the green iswara sedan-like (biggest, better, but the drivers still don't wear safety belts, so u can imagine how courageous they are). We took the red one back, and the experience is...just like a combination of roller coaster and 'space mountain' (fast ride with fast turns that you will break your neck if you don't keep it straight). That fella nearly knocked on a pedestrian, never stopped in junctions, and always try to squeeze between cars. I actually screamed on one occasion (the pedestrian case), and what he said was, "All you have to do is just sit tight.". WALAUEH!!! I wouldn't sit in that car ever again, even if you give me 1 million! Now I understand how my boss felt when he sat in the same type of taxi. He told me beforehand, but I just couldn't believe it until now. Salute them ler...


:: Mich 8:14 AM [+] ::
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