Fabled Xi'an, formerly the capital of several Chinese Dynasties up to the 10th century and as the terminus of the famed Silk Road, is now a very modern city. The city walls are still intact, but, like most modern walled cities, only encloses a part of the city. You can actually go up on top of the walls, rent out a bicycle and circumnavigate the city, which I did one evening and had a great time!

Due to the it's Silk Road past, Xi'an has a thriving Muslim population, which can be seen in the fantastic Muslim Quarter. There are plenty of little shops, restaurants and food carts all over this little quarter of the city. It's a lot of fun strolling down the narrow, winding alleys gazing upon all the different types of cheap food that is being offered. On my first night in Xi'an, I met up with Mariana again and we did just that, looking for cheap food. And it was cheap, I ate dinner for about 10 yuan, which is less than $2!

Xi'an has several interesting sites to see such as the Drum and Bell Towers, the Great Mosque, that has minarets that look like Chinese pagodas, and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, but the main attraction, and the reason I was here, are the Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta Warriors are thousands of man-sized sculptures of ancient Chinese warriors, made of a clay-like substance called terracotta. The figures date from the late 3rd century BC and were buried in large pits as part of huge mausoleum complex for the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The figures represented the army of the emperor and were meant to protect him in the afterlife.

They were discovered by a farmer in 1974 and to this day, still ranks as one of most significant archeological finds in history. The most interesting thing about the warriors, is that each individual figure is completely different. They each have their own distinctive features, such as different hair styles, facial hair, and different facial features, almost as if they were molded after a specific person that lived thousands of years ago! There are soldiers of different ranks, including generals and captains, and there are archers, charioteers and even horses. It has been estimated that in the three pits that are being excavated, that their are over 8,000 warriors, including over 150 chariots and over 600 horses. It is quite amazing to see the rows and rows of warriors lined up in formation, each one different than the next and ready for battle!

I stayed in Xi'an for 5 days, however, the first few days, I kind of just wandered around and didn't do a lot of touristy things. I wandered around the Muslim Quarter and around the downtown area, seeing the enormous Drum Tower and Bell Tower, but not going inside. I even stumbled upon a Papa John's Pizza place and a Walmart! Back home, I normally don't go to Walmart that often, but I went into this one, not only to see if there were any differences, but also because I had to buy some stuff to pack up a parcel that I was going to send home. It was a little strange walking around Walmart in China, but what was weird is that pretty much every aisle had an attendant. I would walk into one aisle and suddenly a Chinese girl would be there trying to help me and then into another aisle and a completely different girl was helping me. At one point, I had four different girls, all at the same time, pointing me in different directions or at different products! I wasn't sure if they were just being helpful or just wanted me to buy something.

At this point in my trip, I had collected a few small souvenirs and some gifts for my family, and so my bag was getting heavier than I would like, so I decided that I needed to send some things home. The whole process was pretty easy. I just had to go the Post Office to get a box and then to Walmart to get some packing tape, mothballs and a linen bag to put things in. The box would be on a ship, so the linen bag was to protect the contents from whatever they spray on the boxes to keep vermin out. The moth balls were to keep cockroaches out, thus negating or at least reducing, any nasty surprised my family might get when opening the package. I had to pack it up, but an attendant at the Post Office had to check out the contents of the box. Unfortunately, one thing I had packed couldn't be sent in the mail, so unfortunately, my brother won't be getting his gift until I get home. Sorry bro. Oh yeah, the package won't arrive for about two months, just in time for Christmas!

The only other touristy thing I did in Xi'an was to go to another museum, the Tomb of Emperor Jingdi, outside of town. It was another mausoleum; this one from the Han Dynasty. It was pretty interesting in that it had a lot of terracotta figures as well, but all of them were a lot smaller and consisted of domesticated animals, several human figures and wares that showed a more domestic side of ancient Chinese life. However, what I found to be the most interesting was, that on the museum grounds, there were a bunch of people dressed in traditional attire, doing archery exhibitions. It was entertaining to see them all line up, aim, pull and release on command. And then they would charge the target and aim, pull and release again. It had a very militaristic order to it. There was also a group of female archers all lined up, wearing beautiful red robes that would do the same thing, but also did a lot more posing for pictures. They looked quite striking in their gorgeous robes doing archery stances in unison.

The rest of my time in Xi'an, I relaxed and just hung out with several people that I had met along the way, including Mariana, a Scotsman named Dave, who was a performance artist, a Greek girl named Vasiliki, that I had met in Beijing and a Chinese girl named Amy. Amy actually worked in the hostel and was learning English, so I volunteered to teach her a little, which was surprisingly a lot of fun. Maybe I have a future in teaching English!

Overall, I liked Xi'an and even though travel weariness is starting to kick in, making me less interesting in seeing some sites, I still had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. Next up on my itinerary is Chengdu, home of the Giant Panda preserve!