The night train from Pingyao to Xian was one of the worst trains we have ever gotten around the world. The seat was hard, the air con was on full blast, the lights were on all night and the train was overcrowded and everyone was staring at us. For 9 hours! I think my bum still had bruises from that seat!

We were going to go straight to see the terracotta warriors when we landed in Xian but after the state of the journey we decided to have a bit of a sleep at the hostel and see some of Xian today and do the warriors tomorrow we were also planning to get the bus there but then as we had a night train booked for tomorrow we didn't want to leave anything to chance, we decided to do the tour run by the hostel.

After our nap in some of the softest beds that we have encountered in China so far, we got up and went to find a bank to exchange some money. Its harder here yo exchange money than other countries, usually there's places everywhere to change money but not in China. After changing some money we went to the centre where yet another drum tower was this one was massive! After this we decided to head back to the hostel and come out later in the evening to have dinner in the Muslim quarter of Xian.

I expected Xian to be a small city as it is also walled like Pingyao but it is massive. We got some food at the supermarket for breakfast and the night train tomorrow. Then when night set in we headed back into town and saw the bell tower which was right by the Muslim quarter, this also had huge alleyways filled with souvenirs which we liked to look at! And bought some shadow puppets in a frame. We then ate in a kebab kind of place and ordered some beef ( maybe?!) Kebabs, fish and chicken wings all served on a stick. Everything can be served on a stick- I even saw fried eggs on a stick! Crazy! The food we ordered was OK. But so spicy we are heading further west now and food just keeps getting hotter and hotter from now on. We'll see how we cope.

After this we headed back to the hostel as we had only had a few hours sleep from the night before and we had to be up early for our tour in the morning.

On our tour there was 11 other people. All western. Mostly English but everyone was really friendly and we had a nice group for the day. The tour guide was also really good and informative. She spoke excellent English the best we've heard yet in China. The terracotta warriors were a 2 hour drive from Xian and on the way she told us a bit about the history of the warriors.

They were made I think in 200 BC by an emperor of China, whose grave had been in the making for 33 years. The grave of the emperor still hasn't been excavated yet. But there are legends that there are rivers of mercury in the grave and tested have shown that the mercury levels in the soil are hundreds of times higher than normal. So who knows? The warriors themselves were found by a farmer in 1974 who was digging for a well. Our tour guide loved this warrior who she called the magic archer. Apparently I think he was the first one to be discovered and he was the only one found that was intact. All of the warriors were brightly painted but the tour guide said that due to oxygen they only last an hour in colour before it fades away. However the magic archer still has some red colouring on his back that has managed to last.

We were led to the tomb first just to take a photo of the big mound that contained the emperor. Then we moved onto pit 2. All the pits are still being excavated and the warriors are being rebuilt everyday. It will probably not be finished even in our lifetime. They have also been looking for other pits as the 3 found are 1.5 km away from the tomb! And they have actually found pit 4 but you can't go in that one. Pit 2 was the middle sized pit and you could see warriors that were broken on the ground yet to be fixed together. They also had 4 intact in glass cases so you could go really close ups to them. They are amazingly detailed. They all have different faces, the tour guide said were based on the workers who built the army. Not actually on real soldiers faces. All the hair was perfect as well. They were built in three parts. Solid legs, a hollow body and then a hollow head. The magic archer was among one of the ones in a glass case. There was also a standing archer, a general and a soldier with a horse.

The soldiers were also supplied with real bronze weapons in there hands that have also been uncovered. I think in a Chinese uprising many many years ago some people came into a tomb and stole some weapons and destroyed some of the soldiers before they had been forgotten about over time.

After pit 2 we went to pit 3 which was really small and is also known as the command center pit as it contains important figures and generals and some horses.

Finally we went to pit 1 and our tour guide took us through the exit so that we could save the best view until last. This pit is the massive one. I think she said there were 4000-6000 warriors in this pit. On one side there was a small group of soldiers that were still be put together and they represented the 56 ethnic groups in China at the time. Each had different hairstyles, different clothes and different shoes. Its amazing how detailed the sculptors were all those years ago. Finally we made it to the entrance which is where you can see hundreds of them all standing to attention in rows. It was really spectacular view to see. But it was quite crowded.

After this we went to a little 360 degree cinema about the making and the discovery of the terracotta warriors which was really cheesy. It was also part of a shop and in the shop was the man who discovered the warriors sitting signing Books!! He was really old but it was cool to see him! The book cost £20 so we didn't buy it. We then went onto lunch and we sat on a massive table and got loads of different dishes to try. It was probably one of our best meals in China so far because there was so much variety if you didn't like a dish up there were plenty others to choose from, whereas if we pick a bad dish at a restaurant you are stuck with it.

The whole day was really good well worth the money and the horrible train to get there.