Wednesday 27th April - arrive in Xi'an. The train station we got off at turned out not to be the main station, but a shiny new station miles out of town. Every taxi we tried to flag down refused us as apparently they were all going to the airport and not into town. Eventually we managed to get a taxi to wait long enough for Chris to call the hostel and pass the phone to the driver to get directions.

We're staying Shuyuan Hostel, close to the centre of town. Xi'an has city wall built all around the old town, and our hostel faces one of the walls. Like, you step out of the door and there's a massive wall right in front of you, stretching in either direction as far as you can see.

Thursday 28th April - Han Jingdi Tomb. This was a trip organised through the hostel to a museum featuring excavated pits of the tomb which have had glass laid over them so you can walk above the pit and look down on the partially exposed pots and clay warriors. Unlike the Terracotta Warriors, these are only half a metre or so tall.

When we got back in the evening we were roped onto an amusing game with marbles and chopsticks. Working in person, person A had to pick marbles (2 points) and stones (1 point) from one plate and place them on another. Person B then had to move those marbles and stones into a bowl, with only those in the bowl at the end being scored. Out of four teams, we won! Trust me, we were just as surprised as you are! It was a good victory too as one of the people we were playing with was being quite smug and showing off his chopsticks skills beforehand.

Friday 29th April - Terracotta Warriors. Again through the hostel, we went out to see the most famous sight in this region. Though the site itself is massive (and that's only the bits they've uncovered, they reckon the actual area of the tomb is far, far larger), only three uncovered pits are open to the public. The pits have been excavated, revealing broken warriors, pots and terracotta animals. In places the terracotta figures have been painstakingly put back together and placed back in their positions to give you an idea of how the pits were laid out.

Pit 1 is the most impressive though. This is where they have uncovered 2000 warriors, with an estimated 6000 still buried. This pit is still worked on by archaeologists in the evenings, and at the back of the pit are dozens of warriors in various stages of being rebuilt. Some are nearly complete whilst others still having gaping holes. It apparently takes 3-4 months for them to piece together one warrior, which seems very quick when you see what they are working with. They reckon it would take another 100 years to complete all the warriors.

At the front of the pit is where the warriors go once they have been finished, all arranged in their original lines and formations. It is quite a sight to see them all lined up. We knew that the faces and hair of each warrior was unique, but you really have to see it to appreciate how amazing that is. Apparently workers modelled the warriors on each other. The emperor then had all the workers killed (all 8000 of them) so the location of the tomb and everything it held would be kept secret. However, we think the warriors have had the last laugh as it is their faces that are now immortalised in the museum.

We also went to the site where the emperor is actually buried. This was largely pointless as it is just a massive manmade hill that we viewed from a distance. They have done anything about excavating yet as it is too dangerous. Legend tells of underground rivers of mercury protecting the tomb from robbers. Interestingly, recent tests of the soil have actually shown the levels of mercury to be much higher than expected.

For dinner we headed to the Muslim Quarter. This is just a mass of tourist tat shops and street food stalls. It made for a pleasant enough evening walk though.

Saturday 30th April - we wandered round Xi'an, visiting various sights. First up were the Bell and Drum Towers. These were used to sound out various times of day, as well as to raise alarm. The towers were nice enough, and you could climb to the top of them, but all this gave us was views of traffic, shops and apartment blocks. As with everywhere in China, modern China has built up as close as possible to ancient buildings. The Bell Tower is actually now a roundabout!

We then headed to the ancient street, with lots of shops and stall selling various knickknacks, before climbing the steps to the top of the city walls. The walls have been heavily rebuilt to their former glory, so they weren't crumbling relics. They go all the way around the old city, and are wide enough for you to easily cycle around without knocking over pedestrians. So we hired a bike (a tandem no less) and did just that! It took us about an hour and a half to go all the way round, with a few stops for photos. It was a fun cycle, though our views were of empty lots were building had been knocked down in the old city on one side, and numerous apartment blocks springing up outside the city walls on the other side.

Sunday 1st May - it was horrible and rainy today, so we didn't do very much. I'm also getting over a cold so it was nice to have a day off from sightseeing. In the evening we went out with some people we've met in the hostel. We needed to get out of the hostel as there was a massive group from Ireland who had come over for a wedding, and they were getting quite rowdy. Even though the wedding was the very next day, they were all drinking like there was no tomorrow - even the groom!

Monday 2nd May - Small Goose Pagoda. Just twenty minutes walk from our hostel is this pagoda. It's 40m high and you can climb up stairs to the top for some nice views of the surrounding park. On the evening we headed to Big Goose Pagoda for a spectacular fountain and light show. It was really good and went on for half an hour. It's quite a walk away though so we had to get a taxi there. Or rather, we tried to get a taxi there. After failing to hail a taxi for about ten minutes we gave in and took our first ride in electric rickshaw. It was fun and terrifying at the same time! These things weave between cars and jump out in front of taxis, dodging pedestrians on the way. We got there in once pieces though, and enjoyed it so much we did the same again on the way home!

Tuesday 3rd May - Big Goose Pagoda. Having seen the light show last night, we thought we'd pop back today to see it in the day time. We went with a group from the hostel that we've made friends with. Unfortunately no rickshaws were to be had so we just got plain old taxis. They fill up the areas were the fountains are with water during the day, so quick as a flash we all whipped off our socks and shoes, rolled up our trousers and paddled. Then we wandered around the grounds of the pagoda before climbing the 250 stairs up to the top. From there we could see distant apartments blocks disappearing into the smog.

For lunch we found a dumplings restaurant that did dumplings in the shape of animals. Or at least, in the pictures on the menu they did. The actual dumplings were a little disappointing. You had to use your imagination. We took yet another form of public transport to get home - the bus. This was fine apart from the fact that Chris failed to get off the bus at the right stop so Chris could only watch helplessly as we we stood searching around to find him as the bus pulled away. He got off at the next stop and we all met up again at the hostel, so it was all fine in the end!

We're now just killing time waiting for our overnight train to Chengdu. It's a 16 hour trip but we've got hard sleeper tickets, which means we at least get a bed to lie down in.

Bye!
Lindsay and Chris