We knew our last truck day was going to be a long one, but it had everything a truck day should have. Before we had got too far this morning we were treated to some bumpy dirt roads. The day dragged on and before midday we were stuck in traffic near some roadworks. When we tried to move to the other side of the road to sneak up the side we nearly got bogged in the mud. Once we finally got through the traffic it was fairly smooth sailing on some nice-ish motorway and we stopped for lunch in a small town (I had some more cold noodles that the lady put at least 2 tsp of chilli on, ouch). As we drove further to the east we went through more tunnels and the roads went through more green and lush areas. Lots of farmland but forests as well. We got close to the city of Xi'an (we knew we were getting close by the pollution) at about 6 but drove around for a while before finally getting into the walled part of the city and arriving at our hotel at about 8.

Shane and I took all our stuff off the truck and put it upstairs before going out for a walk through the town to find the sushi restaurant in the guide book. Xi'an is quite a western city - the central area is full of western-looking clothes shops (so I guess they aren't really just western since they seem to be everywhere), McD's, Starbucks, KFC etc. There is a lot of street food around but we managed to find the sushi place eventually and had some nice cheap sushi. We got a taxi back to the hotel (tey are really cheap here!) and washed our tent ready to be posted home tomorrow.

The next morning we were all up bright and early for a truck clean, the first we've done since Amritsar. The truck is filthy and well overdue for a clean - we've been to a lot of hot and dusty places since the last. It didn't take us all that long though and by 10:30 Shane and I were back up in our room packing our stuff ready to take to the post office. We have sent our camping gear and some cold weather clothes home since we won't be needing them anymore, and it's amazing how much less stuff we have to look after now! We had a nice lunch at a little place with Ruth and Adam and then got a taxi to the post office with Russ a bit later to post the stuff. They gave us a big box to send it in and taped it up and everything for us. It only cost just less than £50 to send about 15kg by surface mail which is probably pretty good. We'll get home before it though.

The final morning in Xi'an we had planned to meet a few others to go off to the Terracotta Warriors, but since we were all getting into taxis to go to the train station we ended up splitting up and didn't see many others all day. After we got to the train station we were glad that we hadn't tried to walk - the walled area in the centre of Xi'an is huge and it was quite a long way away. The buses left from just outside the station. We found out where the 306 buses left from, and joined the crowd waiting near the line of buses. The technique was that once someone indicated which bus was leaving next, the crowd mobbed onto the bus until all the seats were full, then waited nearby for the next bus to be indicated. After missing the first three buses Shane and I decided to throw our weight around a bit and managed to get on one perhaps only slightly injuring the smaller chinese people around us.

The bus trip took about an hour and only cost ¥7 each. It stops at a mountain outside of town covered by a national park with a cable car going up. It looked really nice but it was so smoggy you wouldn't have been able to see anything. The bus also stops at the mausoleum that was part of the Terracotta Warriors complex, but we had been told it wasn't really worth it because the mausoleum is just a big mound of earth. So on we went to the warriors.

The museum complex is huge and pretty tacky-touristy. From the carpark you buy a ticket (¥90), then walk for about a kilometre through this complex of souvenir shops and eateries. The museum complex is made up of several different buildings, 3 excavated pits and an exhibition hall. The most impressive is Pit number 1, where the warriors were first discovered and the most famous area. The hall covering the area is massive but we were expecting to see it a lot more densely packed with the warriors themselves - only the area just near the door was full of ranks of the figures. It was still impressive, but possibly a little underwhelming. Pit number 2 hasn't even been excavated yet so just consisted of the soil ceilings under which we are told are loads of chariots and horse figures. There were some neat examples of the different ranks of soldier in there on display though. The exhibition hall contained a couple of amazing terracotts chariots and horses, one half of their original size and in great condition. I think it took us about 2 hours to wander around the whole complex.

It was very hot and muggy today so after we were done seeing the area we headed back to Xi'an and killed some time in Starbucks again before it was time to gather up our stuff, say goodbye to the truck and head back to the train station. Our train was at 8:15 and was very nice, with plenty of leg room but the seats didn't tilt back very much so it wasn't super comfortable for sleeping. I managed to sleep off and on during the night though and we arrived in Beijing at about 7:30 am.