J: We arrived in Xian in the morning after a night train, just walking the streets to find a hostel. We went to the Great Mosque of Xian, which is the oldest and most renowned in the country built in just 742AD. It's really unusual as it's completely Chinese in its style. We found some of the smallest Muslim market streets yet which where brilliant to walk around and get food. The specialty on the street was cold nutty noodles.

We went to the drum and (separately) the bell tower. These were impressive buildings in the city and until just a few years ago were still used to announce time in the city.

We found the best park ever, and after Sam finished her tramp impression, of being drunk and asleep on a park bench. A little old man let me fly his kite! I was over the moon, we couldn't speak to each other but he left me with his piece of kit, which once I got it to max length the kite was over a 1000 meters away! Almost no wind on the floor but a kilometer up it was pulling and I played for 90mins while Sam sat and watched a brass band just a few feet from each other.

S: Well the main attraction of coming to Xi'an is of course the Terracotta Army. So a little bus journey out of the center and we find ourselves there. It's really quite hard to describe the feeling you get when you walk into the pits. It's total amazement, to think nobody knew about this army built to protect the king when he lay buried since 210BC. It wasn't discovered until 1974, as an accident whilst digging for a well. The largest pits, is full of life sized figurines, chariots and horses all ready for battle. We spent a few hours just wondering around taking it all in. They only used 8 molds for their faces and then individually crafted out expressions, so every one is individual.

I swear I have walked every mile of Xi'an and even have the scars to prove it!! Apparently I'm a little clumsy on my feet and a nice gash found it's way onto my foot, but Mr. K was brilliant and obviously happy to performed minor surgery in helping it get better lol.

We visited the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a seven storey temple built in 627AD. Although what a treat we had on arriving, there is a massive water fountain display that was 400m long, and was just brilliant to watch with the music being played in sync.