Hail warriors

Outside the British Museum (photos of exhibition prohibited)

Yesterday, CC and I boarded the 7.50am train to London with a mission. We were going to say hello to China's Terracotta warriors of Qin Shihuangdi (259-210BC), the first Emperor of China. We'd booked the tickets in August as soon as we heard they're coming to London.

We took the tube to Chinatown. We'd delicious Italian coffee and apple pastry at an Italian cafe. No surprise, it was full of Italians and we were enveloped in Italian conversations. It was weird.

I'd no plans to do anything else and just tagged along with CC's. We plodded along the backlanes of Soho with its narrow cobbled streets, independent shops and some very, very saucy establishments. At a fabric shop, CC wanted to get Harris Tweed which is going to cut its textile production from more than 100 to about 30. But, the shop doesn't have it in stock. Instead, she bought some woollen tweed which cost an arm and a leg.

This shop is tucked in a little corner, very shabby with rolls and rolls of textiles piled ceiling high. Customers kept on coming with requests from a zip to a tatty bag, a tall guy purchasing rolls of white calico cos he's going to be a mummy for a fancy dress party, people bringing in samples etc. It was indeed a very busy shop and I'm pleased to see that people still custom independent retailers.

I bought some Indian Alfonso mangoes and Naishi pears from the markets. I was itching to take photographs of the colourful wares on sale and the surroundings but decided against it. This is London, remember?. Having a camera on show is not a good thing.

We checked out a few Chinese supermarket and I was impressed with the stock. It's like my local Chinese shop in Malaysia. There were soo many things that I wanted to purchase but I don't fancy lugging bags into the British Museum. I ended with a yam bean and coconut palm sugar. Don't ask me why?

At a Chinese pastry shop, both of us felt as if we were let loose in a sweet shop. I bought red bean buns and durian cookies for Kevin. In a gift shop, I bought 2 brightly-coloured paper lanterns. While waiting for KS to join us for lunch, we lingered by the famous Chinatown gates. When it was safe so I managed to snap and pose.
KS arrive with a big smile sporting a huge sparkler. Congratulations...she finally got him at last :-). We're going to Aberdeen with big hats. We enjoyed a huge long lunch at China-China trading news. We'd the special fried rice with 4 different courses of soup, seafood and vegetables, washed down with pots of steaming fragrant Chinese tea (which the waiter kept on topping). Delish.

Then we waddled slowly to the British Museum. Stopped at a posh Art Gallery (you'd to buzz to enter) where CC and KS purchased some original pieces.

The Museum was humming with people from all over the world. It was a full-house. We'd to pay to store our shopping and coat which were not allowed into the exhibition. Since we were early, we checked out the other displays. There was a display of Egyptian and Assyrian artefacts. Taking good photographs was impossible cos of the volume of people. I couldn't even get close to the Rosetta Stone.

We bid KS good bye and good luck and made our way into the Blue Room where the exhibition was held. Typical librarians, we couldn't help looking up at the 2 miles of books surrounding us. I was cursing angrily cos cameras were forbidden. We were then herded into a line and led through the exhibition. Lots of things to read and see. Often, the queue just stopped cos people took longer to read and see and refused to move on.
Dated more than 2,000 years old, these Terracotta warriors formed a substantial part of the funerary goods of China's first emperor. At the beginning of his reign, suffering a constant fear of dying, Emperor Qin had ordered the construction of a vast mausoleum and funerary park. On his death, he was buried surrounded by his army of warriors.

The 1.8 metres statutes were among the 120 objects on display. There were also figurines of entertainers, civil officials, bronze chariots, birds, horses and potteries. The alarm kept on going off cos people tried to touch or even photograph them using mobile phones.

It was a truly mesmerising, educational and world-class exhibition. I was fascinated by the highly individualised facial characteristics of the warriors. I couldn't picture the scale of this 'eight wonder of the world' at its on-site museum in Xian. Imagine, 7,000 of them. Qin Shihuangdi managed to achieve what he wished all along-- to carry on ruling over the universe, even after his death.

After such an exciting day, the trip home was quite eventful. There was no train home due to a so-called rail improvement service. A crowd was already hanging around the information board waiting for news. We went to a nearby fast-food restaurant for replenishments. About 30 minutes later, we were asked to go to platform 4 for the train to Northampton and then a bus ride to our destination. There was a rush for seats.

We nodded off in the train. In Northampton, passengers were divided into Birmingham, B'ham International Airport, Coventry and Rugby. We were herded into the various coaches. Along the route, we were entertained by numerous firework displays. The driver said that it will take us an hour but it took longer. He was lost. A passenger even had to direct him to the train station. Poor Kevin had to wait 45 minutes in the cold. Muchas gracias, darling.

We reached home about 9.30pm. Very, very tired with aching feet. I will not be doing this again for a looong time...