Frog Dumplings, Terracotta Warriors and Omelets
We leave Beijing and head for Xi'an. Xi'an is one of those destinations I have always wanted to get to. When I was in grade seven I lived in Ontario and I can remember going to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The big display at the time was a handful of figures from the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an. I fell in love with the idea of archaeology as a career choice. The Indiana Jones movies that came out in the following years helped cement it when I went to university. My BA in anthropology was the first in a long line of thoroughly unemployable degrees (or so I thought – thanks for hiring me FBC!!). All of them can be traced back to a group of clay soldiers from central China.

We head out for dinner at a restaurant that is four floors high and specializes in dumplings. We choose from meals named 18, 20 and 24 Dumpling. And true to the name there is a steady stream of dumplings. Admittedly the western palette loses its ability to distinguish the differences after the first 14. Of note are the frog dumplings and walnut dumplings and one we aren't entirely sure whether it is [Monkey Head] Mushroom or Monkey Head [comma] Mushroom Dumplings.

Our hotel in Xi'an is incredible – the service is wonderful. We wake up to a buffet that includes western and Chinese foods. After eating, we head off to the Terracotta Warriors Museum. It is a fascinating trip as we snake our way through the streets of Xi'an. We are quickly learning that China has a set of Traffic Guidelines (loose suggestions in the rural areas) more than Traffic Laws per se.

The day spent at the archaeological sites is marvelous – it was all I could do to keep from climbing over the railing and inspecting the digs a little closer. The presence of flesh and blood soldiers keep me from getting too close to the terracotta ones.