We arrived in Xian at midnight and awoke to see the sky for the first time since arriving in China. It is amazing how much a blue sky and sunshine can lift one's spirits.

After Chongqing, Xian was a much smaller city of only 9.5 million people. It had a whole different feel about it to other places we have visited in China. It is flat and modern, with high rise buildings going up everywhere. The clear sky probably made the world of difference too. It was quite chilly (-2 to 10) while we were there, but we didn't mind. We would have been willing to even trade a few degrees Centigrade more for the blue sky.

The highlight of coming here was to see the Terra-cotta Warriors, but Xian is a beautiful city and held many other delights such as the Wild Goose Pagoda (the largest Buddhist temple in China) and Arab Street (an incredible bustling street of foods and wares for sale).