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When you’re traveling, sometimes the days stretch out forever. You think back at the end of the day and realize that something that happened in the morning seems like several days ago. Today was one of those days. This morning I went to the Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an. I had seen pictures of the Terracotta Army before, but pictures just don’t do it justice. The scale of the site is incredible. Each warrior and horse is different, and originally they were also all hand-painted. No narcissism in Emporer Qin, eh?
This afternoon, several of us girls decided to get massages. We walked to the Bell Tower area, to a nicer looking spa, since we’ve heard horror stories. When we walked in, 2 rows of Chinese girls sang “Ni hao” and “Hello.” After a little bit of difficult translation, we managed to let them know (we hoped) that we wanted massages. They guided us up some ominous looking stairs (isn’t this the part in the movies that it all starts to go downhill?). Thankfully we were all in the same room, but they all screeched “nooo, nooo nooo” when we asked if we should be in towels. So we had fully-clothed, full-body massages. AND they used the hole in the table for your feet instead of your head. AND they watched some kind of Chinese talk show while they worked. AND they giggled while watching TV and answering their cell phones. After a brutal 70 minutes we were through, but only after they tried to bend me in half, I might add. I expect my back to hurt tomorrow… a lot.