Today was the day we would finally see the famous terracotta warriors. We woke at seven thirty and put plenty of layers on before Steven headed for breakfast. At nine we met the group in the lobby and headed to our private mini bus that would take us the hour journey. We also had a local guide with us and she spent the hour telling us all the history of Xi'an and the warriors themselves. The journey was nice and I enjoyed looking out the window at the world while munching on the sesame crackers Steven had taken from the buffet this morning.

Shortly after ten am we arrived at a small government run terracotta shop. Here replicas of the warriors are made along with many other Souvenirs. They also make the famous Chinese lacquered furniture and although it was interesting to see how the warriors were made ..it felt a bit like a hard sell and considering the furniture started at three grand... He was definitely barking up the wrong tree, although Steven did take a shining to a four thousand pound wooden globe.

We hit the road again for the short journey to the terracotta warriors. We left the bus in a car park then walked through a long street of new and modern homes with shops in front... Reminded me a bit of Milton Keynes the way in which it looked. The homes were owned by the farmers and they had given up on farming as they could make a lot more money from selling food and souvenirs to tourists. We walked the ten minute walk up to the entrance of the site and made our way in... I would definitely say that although it is truly freezing here its a great time to visit as there is hardly any tourists a all.

Firstly we headed to the cinema to watch a short film adaptation of the history of the warriors. It was in Chinese and pretty cheesy but we got the gist of it. Basically the warriors were built by Qin Shi Huang, China's first unifier who believed his rule would continue in death as it had in life. The life size army, which is made up of thousands of figures had stood silently guarding his tomb for thousands of years, before being found by accident by a local farmer. This occurred in 1974 when the farmer was drilling a well and accidentally came across a vault that eventually unearthed thousands of life size soldiers and horses in battle formation. The site is one if the greatest archaeological finds of all time and gives a great insight into ancient China.

The small cinema is located through a shop where the farmer himself sits and signs autographs all day (and doesn't appear to happy by his new found fame and fortune). He will give you an autograph for free but only in a book that costs about twelve quid. As we were leaving the shop I told the guide I was just going to get a picture of him and she said... "He doesn't let you take his picture unless you pay him twenty yuan (two pounds)" erm I think not i replied... I went into the shop and pretended to look around before snapping him discreetly.... I should have been a spy! The picture isn't too bad either.

We headed to pit one which is the largest of the pits and houses over six thousand full size warriors although only two thousand are on display. The place is huge and looks like a large aircraft hanger. I think many people would be blown away on entering but to be honest I have seen so many pictures of the hanger that it just confirmed what I had seen before. However what was inside was truly marvellous, for before you is thousands of warriors all facing east and looking ready for battle. Each one is unique from the clothes he wears to his facial features and expressions... It really is a wonder. As you walk around the hanger you can fully appreciate the work that has gone in to restoring the army. Each figure had to be fully restored some from many pieces... Like a big puzzle. Towards the back of the hanger you can see where the process is still ongoing. Each warrior would have been holding a bow or weapon but as most were made of wood, they have long disintegrated along with the chariots. The place is incredible and we enjoyed it a lot more as we weren't fighting through heaps of people.

We then headed out to hanger three which is the smallest of the three and believed to be the headquarters of the army due to the amount of high ranking officers and horses here. There are seventy three in total and its amazing to see how detailed the warriors are.

Pit two was the last pit and contains around thirteen hundred warriors and horses but is still being excavated so there isn't a great deal to see in the pit. However there is a good opportunity to see the magnificent warriors up lose as they have put five warriors; a kneeling archer, a standing archer, a Calvary man and his horse, a mid ranking officer and a general in to glass cases that allow you to stand just a few feet from them. The kneeling archer in particular is amazing... You can see him in such detail from the hairs on his head to the thread of his shoe, plus a the back of him you can even see some of the original red paint still on his tunic. The condition of these warriors is really something, it is just amazing to see them in person and impossible to even comprehend how big the site could truly be.

By now we were frozen to the bone... It was minus four and felt a lot colder in the hangers surrounded by stone. We headed outside and the over to the museum where two authentic bronze chariots are displayed that was found a mere twenty feet west from Qin Shi Huang's tomb, there is also various weapons and such there. The chariots are incredible and they have done such a good job restoring them back to their former glory as the before pictures show them crushed to pieces.

After the museum we headed back through the grounds towards the exit. The grounds themselves were nothing like I expected... In fact they looked a lot better. I thought we would see an aircraft hanger in the middle of no where and that would be it but the grounds them selves are tidy and landscaped well. There's even a fourth pit that was excavated but filled back in as it didn't contain anything but the border is marked with stones within the grounds.

After the trek back to the bus we settled in to the warmth and set off back in the direction of Xi'an. On route we chatted and shared strange Chinese sweets that we had bought in the market on Christmas Day. We sampled soft sharp cherries, mushroom tofu?! And a few other delights before drawing up outside the hotel. We now had free time and again I headed straight for a very hot shower before resting down in my comfies to do the blog. Later the group were heading out for a dumpling banquet and show but we didn't fancy it... I'm not a fan of the dumplings and Steven didn't fancy the show so instead we are going to explore Xi'an a little on our own before we head off tomorrow to Luoyang.

We headed out in the neon lit streets of Xi'an for the evening to get a taste of the nightlife which was on offer. The streets were packed with sellers trying to part with various wares and loads of vendors selling all manner of street food. We had no idea what the food was and perhaps what you did not know wouldn't hurt you. We headed through various shopping districts which included a lot of top end designer stores such as Prada. We progressed into the Muslim quarter and it was heaving with locals. The smells were amazing and the heat from the cooking furnaces was most welcoming. Laura was debating buying some souvenirs such a small terracotta water but being Laura she was not happy with the quality. I really fancied these fried potatoes they were selling a big wok and I bought some then to my horror realised it was a gelatine type substance. The taste was good but it got to the point where I could not eat it wondering what the hell it was?! We decided we would try and get some noodles