Good evening!

It's 8:21pm and we are currently sat amongst thousands of Chinese people waiting for the Xi'an Fountain, light and sound show to start! The sun is setting and the Big Goose Pagoda looks majestic in the distance.

Today we decided to go it alone and visit the eighth wonder of the world without a tour. After a leisurely start we headed to the bus station via McDonalds for breakfast! Finding any kind of food other than Western fast food is proving to be really difficult here! We're trying hard to find a good Chinese meal but have mainly ended up anywhere that looks clean and has a picture menu to choose from haha!

The 306 bus took around 1 hour and was really easy to use. On arrival we got our tickets and walked through the usual tourist section. As soon as we passed through the ticket gate however the whole experience was a pleasure. The whole area was green, leafy and beautiful and very pleasant to walk around. First we went into the museum to find out a little more information about the warriors. Basically when the first emperor was alive he spent 40 years building his own tomb! In those times they believed that you would have an after life and anything buried with you would go along with you, hence why the Emperor spent 40 years building an entire life size Terracotta Army! During an inspection visit the Emperor sadly passed away and the process of closing the tomb began. The roofs were added and entrances closed, only to be opened and destroyed by a rebel tribe some years later. Anyway.... 2000 years later, a local farmer was digging for a well when he found pieces of pottery. It transpired that he had stumbled across the largest historical find in Chinese history and one that still provides a wealth of information to this day.

After the museum we moved onto the 3rd pit. This was relatively small but was still an amazing sight. The main attraction here were 3 horses, intricately made and standing beautifully in front of warriors.
The 2nd pit was larger but appeared to be less excavated. Many areas were barely touched however again there were a number of warriors and horses.
The final pit, number 1, was the best and largest pit. Housing nearly 6000 warriors in perfect lines it really was an amazing sight. Here a large amount had been excavated at the front and the rear was an area where warriors that had been destroyed by rebels were being painstakingly pieced back together. It was a great sight and we enjoyed walking around the perimeter gazing with awe and wonder into the pit below us.
Our visit to the Terracotta Warriors ended in the gift shop where we purchased a miniature warrior who we have named Jun, after the first Chinese man we met at our first hotel. We also bought another magnet for the fridge :)

The return journey back to Xi'an was a less enjoyable experience as the driver and guard seemed to want to pick up anyone, stood anywhere who looked like they needed a lift to the city. Eventually we arrived back and took the same bus back to our hostel. After a rest and quick change it was time to head out again to the Big Goose Pagoda, another main sight in the city.

We took the 601 bus out of the city walls for about 30 mins. The traffic was horrendous so it was a bit of a nightmare but we got there in the end. On our arrival we were expecting a beautiful square with a Pagoda in the middle, surrounded by restaurants (perhaps with umbrellas, decent food and the odd street entertainer). We were disappointed, but not surprised, to find nothing on our wish list apart from the square and the Pagoda! Although the Pagoda was beautiful in the evening light we were starving and marched around the square hunting for food! Snack outlet after fast food after dogems after club! It was a little like a posh version of Blackpool, complete with people selling flashing tat! Eventually we settled on a restaurant only to exit once we figured it would be impossible to order as no one could speak any English and we didn't have a clue what was going on! Yet again we ended up in something a little better than a 'dive' and ordered by pointing at pictures. Our meal wasn't too bad and we felt a lot better when we got a bill for £9.60!

Our evening ended with a 45 min wait for the fountain show which in the end was pretty amazing! We stood amongst thousands of Chinese tourists as the music and fountains performed their magic! We're not sure they are better than the Dubai ones though! For us though the highlight of the time at the fountains was speaking to a 10 year old little boy in English so he could practice! We're not sure how to spell or say his Chinese name but his English name was Jason.

Now it's 10:57pm and we're all packed and ready to move on tomorrow morning. We leave the hostel at 5:00am and head to the airport to take a plane to Chengdu! We're going Panda hunting!!!

Goodnight for now,
T&T x