Friday 5th September - day 16
Xi'an

Up early to make our way to the terracotta warriors. It's about a hour Away according to the hostel and we need to catch a bus to the train station (603) then swap and take another one to the site (306). We get to the train station, cross the road and walk to the eastern corner of the station to get the bus - which is more like a coach. The price should be 5rmb each, but naturally we are charged 7 each because we are westerners. Unable to argue I suck up the extra 20p each we've just lost out on and keep my trap shut.
We arrive at the site after about 90mins of travel.
Its 140rmb in and we go over to the museum first. It's currently got an Italy display on.. So we swerve that and head over to pitt 3.
The Terracotta Army was only discovered 49 years ago by accident. The army was built to guard the tomb of Qin shi huangdi (who rules china 2,200) years ago. The warriors are life sized and made from yellow clay. After the discovery of the first pit, excavations began which unearthed 3 pits and some 7,000 soldiers, archers, chariots and horses. Each warrior was originally painted in vivid colours, but after air exposure, only traces of the paint remain. Each figure has an individually crafted face/hairstyle or piece of clothing.
Pit 2 is still undergoing excavation and there's not much to see, but you can make out pieces of the army such as chariot wheels etc.
pit 3 is nearly excavated and is the control centre and smallest of the Pitts. Pit 1, which contains the infantry is by far the most impressive of the 3. It contains over 6,000 warriors in battle formations and originally were also equipped with weapons including swords, spears and bows and arrows.
The tomb took 700,000 workers, and 36 years to complete.
After a fee hours exploring the Pitts and the Chinese crowd, we make it back to the hostel in time for the dumpling party.
We are shown how to make typical Chinese dumplings with meat or vegetable fillings and then obviously, get to eat the lot when we are done. A few English & Canadians join us but only the English are reduced to a laughing fit when the hostel guy pronounces northchina so strangely that it sounds like vagina. We're told off but it only makes it worse.
Anyway after the vagina episode, we eat the dumplings, drink beer get to know the others, and decide to visit huashan tomorrow.