Once we arrived in Xi'An following our new experience of a Chinese sleeper train we went straight to see the Terracotta Warriors, these dudes are over 2000 years old and are in amazing condition considering their age! It's pretty overwhelming seeing them in the flesh the pictures just don't do it justice.

Following our visit to the warriors we were able to check into our hotel and then wonder around Xi'An, compared to Beijing Xi'An is so easy to find your way around there is no metro but the main centre of the city is inside a historic city wall. That same evening we went to a dumpling banquet, dumplings are big in China and very nice but after what must have been 12 courses of different dumplings we all kind of lost the taste for them! Following the banquet five of us went out on the town in Xi'An, a few beers later and we somehow managed to cram all five of us into a 'tuc tuc' for a crazy journey back to our hotel.

In the morning six of us hired bikes and cycled on the historic city walls around Xi'An which is 13.4 KM in total, we had to do the cycle in the morning due to the heat and also because unlike Beijing Xi'An didn't have a pollution haze over the city to protect us from the suns rays.

Before leaving Xi'An Intrepid took us to a local school for people with learning difficulties. On arrival we were served dinner and also treated to a show by some of the students, for some parts we also contributed (it was a good thing I was wearing my dancing shoes!). Visiting the school was a great experience and it was easy to see how much the school assists in providing these pupils with the skills they need to eventually gain a work placement and more independence.

On the evening of 7th July we all boarded another sleeper train to Suzhou Nigel, Zach (the only other two men on the trip) and I drunk beer and played card games to pass time on the 16 hour journey! Our next destination is Suzhou.