After a great couple of days in Beijing, it was time to head west to Xi’an. The airport security was one of of the most diligent and furiously chaotic set of procedures I have ever seen. They ran around and checked everything. Then we spent a full hour taxiing on the runway since the airport was so busy. The plane was a large A330 and had entertainment in every seat, but the lunch snack was a single role with 1 slice of cheese. Drink? Only a bottle of water.

Let’s talk about Xi’an. The pollution is bad. The smog is everywhere and it is felt like Beijing 15 years ago.  This photo is quite generous…the smog is much worse than it looks.

Before heading to our hotel and the city center, we stopped to check out the underground tomb of the 4th emperor of the Han dynasty I believe. The above was a recreation of one of the gates to the giant mound and compound.  I think this is the tomb of Tomb of Emperor Jingdi.

It was a great teaser for tomorrow (stay tuned to this channel) and the above is a great high level representation of the overall tomb and all the burials.

This tomb is quite incredible and what is unique is all of the burial characters are miniature people and animals.

Check out the waves of the piglets getting ready to attack!

It was a long day, but I have to admit a local beer was quite tasty to relax on the bus ride to the hotel and the city center. What was the surprise was the beer has a classic tear off opening like the 1970s in the United States…