Amber Toy's Wildest Adventures: My Dream

When I first learned about the Terracotta warriors when I was small I dreamed about seeing them afterwards. I have always wanted to see them, but thought it would forever be a day dream. Well guess what!!! I saw them! But I’ll start from the beginning of our journey…

We took a thirty hour train ride to get to Xi’an. When we got on the bus and figured everything out, we found out that we are on the very top bunk! There was not enough space in that top bunk to sit up so we ended up spending most of our time sitting by the other beds. The scenery on the way to Xi'an was breathtaking. We passed by a lot of different parts of China while on the train, so it was fun to look out the window! We saw what the countryside of China looks like, it was like flipping through pages of the National Geographic! I wish you all could have been there looking out that window with me!

I met a lot of great people on that train. I made friends with a group of lawyers from Tibet traveling across China for their vacation. I loved listening to their stories and learning more of their culture. While on the train with them, they asked a lot of questions about America and in return I asked a lot about Tibet! They talked about how much they wanted to be free. That was their biggest dream, to be free from the tight grasps of the government. How sad that they wish every night that they could be free. Something we in America take for granted every day of our lives. They touched my heart in many ways, I will miss them!

My Tibetan friends

Our whole tour group

So far my favorite part about this trip has been the Terracotta warriors. The history about the terracotta warriors is remarkable. Just think, they stayed hidden from the world for over 2,000 years! Each statue is different, and when the statue was done, (which took about seven days) the emperor would have that solider killed so he couldn’t tell anyone about the tomb. He also killed all of the artists that carved the statues! He was a bit of a crazy emperor, he was obsessed with death. This is why he made such a remarkable tomb. I won’t bore you with more history, but know that pictures do not do the terracotta warriors justice! I can’t explain how remarkable it felt to be standing so close to so many different warriors, or horses. I loved every second of that day! After Xi'an we went to Beijing and then Shanghai, I will write about those two places soon! I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all and miss you!