To See The Terracotta Warriors

On a random morning, I woke up to texts from the girlfriends asking what I was up to for the day. Clearly, they woke up earlier than I did. As luck would have it, we were all VERY free after 2.30pm. Best. An impromptu date we made.

On a hot day, we decided to go to the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) for its current special exhibition of "Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy". We figured that there wouldn't be that many humans thronging the corridors on a weekday. Aside from a big group of 20 people or so following a really passionate volunteer guide through the display, there wasn't a big crowd. It was relatively painless for the girlfriend to push her sleeping daughter around in the stroller.

Most annoying that iPhone apps ruled. For us who don't hold iPhones, we clearly don't get to play with the app that have been specially programmed for the exhibition. NOT FAIR. If you're not offering an iPod Touch on loan for visitors, it's almost discriminatory to only issue apps for the iPhone. It isn't as if Apple is sponsoring any part of this exhibition yo. We didn't manage to experience the scope of the interaction that lilsnooze managed to do on an iPhone. Never mind, seeing the exhibits was still pretty cool.

Perhaps it's my current state of mind, or rather, focus. But I was more intrigued by the other objects from the era, and the later Han Dynasty. I particularly like a tiny funerary piece found in Xi'an dating from the Western Han period titled "Acrobats", sculpted in earthenware. The paints on the piece have faded, but the mastery of the artist has lived on for all to see. It's not exactly exquisite by modern standards, but given the techniques of the era, it's a fine creation that depicts the strength and grace of the acrobats frozen in a move that is still familiar.