HUAQING POOL AND TERRACOTTA WARRIORS AND HORSES MUSEUM, XIAN. 21 JUNE 2019

it was a wet day on the day we wanted to start our first day of exploration in xian. we chose to go to terracotta warriors and horses museum first because we wanted to avoid the weekend crowd on saturday and Sunday. our mode of transport to the museum was via the tourist bus which one can board next to the xian railway station.

this building here is xian railway station. continue walking towards the right and find bus no 306 or some other blue buses there. a long line was already forming when we reached there at around 9am. it was a cloudy day and not a patch of blue was seen in the sky.

this is bus no 306. just join the queue and you will be shown to the bus by the attendants there. it is only 7RMB to get to the museum and the bus is really frequent. as soon as one was full, the next one was ready to load its passengers. in the bus, the conductor would sell the tourist and info map of the area for those interested to buy. those blue buses that you can see in the photo are also heading towards the same direction. but most ppl seemed to be queuing for bus 306.

we boarded and were told to fasten the seatbelts. the route on this bus would take one to Huaqing Pool first and unload those who are interested to get off there before continuing to the terracotta museum. as it was still early, my group decided to make this detour and stop at Huaqing Pool. I think we paid 4RMB since our journey was shorter. it was about 40 minutes if my memory serves me right.

we got off at Huaqing Pool and dad queued up to buy admission tickets. I did not know much about this pool hence I started googling as soon as I was in the bus.
the location of this pool is at the foot of mount Li. I did not get to see the peak of this mountain at all because it was shrouded in fog. I saw a cable car line going straight to the peak though but we chose not to take it and decided to explore the area on foot instead.

the story of Huaqing Pool is that it was a palace built by a tang emperor for his concubine and a place where one could soak in the water from the hot springs. there isn't any public pool there though but I saw a small area where one could soak their feet in the vicinity.

I think the standard admission fee for all 5Star attractions in china is 120RMB. that was what we paid for adults. however, if you are a senior of Chinese descent residing overseas, just show them your passport and you will still get a senior discount. just remember to tell them that you are 'hua qiao'. undergraduates also have their discounts provided that you show them your student card.

one of the main entrances to Huaqing Pool. see how wet it was and all the umbrellas were out.

Huaqing Pool is also famous for being a temporary residence for Chiang Kai shek, the leader of the Chinese nationalist party and the location of xian incident (kidnapping and shooting attempt of the leader).

bing Jian pavilion on mount li. behind the big rock was where Chiang Kai shek hid himself in the xian incident if my eavesdropping was good.

this was the crevice where one could get to behind the rock behind the pavilion.

a statue of the concubine, yang Gwei fei outside the hot spring pools area. there is no more water in the bath pools which are now housed in individual buildings (two of the buildings are behind the statue).

this is the most famous pool as this was where the concubine first caught the attention of the emperor when she got out from the pool. how alluring.

I have no idea what this building or lake is called. ;)

another statue and fountain outside Huaqing Pool admission area.

our trip to Huaqing Pool ended at around 1 in the afternoon. I won't really recommend this place for people who don't have the time to linger and walk aimlessly. I felt I was walking without an aim except only to find that infamous bathing pool. according to a taxi driver we spoke to, most locals don't bother stopping here. the taxi driver hadn't been there himself although he was from the area. so I guess that shows how 'popular' the place is. nope, it wasn't crowded at all when I was there. well, maybe because it was a wet day to be out for sight-seeing and the peak season hadn't begun yet.

we walked back to where we got off the bus, and boarded the same bus, 306 to go to terracotta museum. I think we paid 4RMB for this part of the journey and it was around 30 minutes this time around.

reached the terracotta warriors and horses museum. looked for the place to buy tickets. queued and bought and walked walked walked till we reached pit 1. the walk from the entrance to all the pits was not short. I think they have to make this walk long because that is their way to control the crowd during peak seasons.

there are 4 pits in the museum area, but only 3 are open to visitors. the forth one can only be seen via a glass cover on the ground.

the biggest pit and the one that will wow everyone will be this pit 1.  it looks like an aeroplane hangar.  it was packed like sardines but I could still squeeze my way to the front of the railing to get this photo. on the right of the photo is the side railing where you can see little humans by the side trying to get the best view of all these terracotta figures.  it was really an impressive view. to see the work being put into making these figures was definitely another 'tick' in the bucket list.

the layers of crowd when I was there wasn't that thick. it was only about 2 to 3 layers and everyone had a chance to see what I saw here.

all these individual figures are put at the end of the hall in pit 1 and in pit 1 we could also see still the excavation and restoration process being done.

photos from pit 3. the crowd got thinner as you move from pit 1 to pit 3. so choose carefully how you want to go from pit to pit. but frankly, it doesn't matter which pit you go to. all the pits are just as interesting. this is really a place not to be missed when one is in xian.

our trip ended at around 4.30p.m. and we took the bus back to the city after that.