We took the overnight sleeper from Chengdu on the 23rd - though we cheated and went softsleeper! We shared our cabin with two Chinese guys who spoke absolutely no english and showed absolutely no interest in us so we thought we were in for a peaceful journey . . . until they came back from their dinner rather the worse for wear and wanted to be our best mates! They were determined that we were going to have a conversation! So with the aid of the guidebook we ascertained that we were both going to Xi'an . . . and that they drove for a living - but not taxis and not like Michael Schumacher (oh, the international language of celebrity!)! In the end one of them got quite frustrated with our inability to understand him so bought us beer and phoned his sister . . . she spoke English and after that we had a very constructive 3-way conversation!

Xi'an is the walled capital of Shaanxi province, it's nice, old and loads to do - much nicer than Chengdu - though still smoggy! We've had a great time here - we've ridden a tandem along the top of the old wall - much to the amusement of ourselves and everyone else! We've explored most of the city and done a fair bit of bartering, which meant we've shipped home our first parcel - the shoulders just couldn't take anymore weight!

The highlight was definitely yesterday when we went to the Terracotta Warriors . . . we were prepared to be disappointed but were most definitely not! They were really cool and though it was fairly busy we loved it. We think we almost preferred the pits where they're still excavating and there's broken warriors all over the place! We'll have to come back in about 20 years time when they've finished! (Oh, and while we were there we had a big double-take! We thought Dan had followed through on his threat and jacked in his job! - See the rather random picture of the Dan-lookalike!).

And today we've been to try and see the big and little goose pagoda's - but due to shoddy navigation, completely missed the little one and by the time we got to the big one we were wet! Mostly due, we think, to the fact it's so smoggy - you can't see when it's cloudy! So we went out very unprepared for the downpour and got proper wet.

All in all, we love Xi'an and it would definitely be on the list for a return visit at some point in the future. We're moving on tonight to Beijing . . . another train journey . . . Great Wall here we come!