Thursday we arrived in Xian at 12:00 after our 16 hour train journey. We were greated by our guide Sasha and taken to our hostel, we took showers and went for lunch then met again at 15:30 to head to the City Wall. Xian Ancient City Wall is 12 metres tall and 8.5 metres in length, it's purpose was to store abundant food supplies and for the emperor to take time to fortify the city and unify the other states, we rode tandem bikes along the top of the wall which was fun. After, we had spare time to walk to the supermarket to get some snacks and drinks and managed to find some Asda chocolate raisins!! At 18:30 we all met up and Sasha took us on a tour of the city, we viewed the Bell Tower, a stately traditional building that marks the geographical center of the ancient capital. The wooden tower, standing 36 metres high, is the largest and best-preserved of its kind in China, during the Ming Dynasty, Xian was an important military town in Northwest China, the tower was built in 1384 as a way to dominate the surrounding countryside and provide early warning of attack by rival rulers. Next we viewed the Drum Tower, another stately traditional building, similar to the Bell Tower built in 1380 and stands 34 meters high, it was used to indicate sunrise and sunset. After, we walked to the Muslim Quarter, since the 1st century Xi'an attracted traders from West and during the 8th century one third of Xians population were foreigners. The ancestors of these Muslims dwelled in Xian with Han people harmoniously and built a Great Mosque for worship simultaneously. Nowadays, 20,000 Muslims inhabit here, Muslim food and souvenir market is the main feature of the area, The Beiyuanmen Muslim Market is a 500 metre stretch of stalls, Sasha showed us all the different Street food we should try which was all very tasty.

Friday we were up early for our trip to see the Terracotta Warriors, the sight is a 3 hour drive from Xian city by bus, we were relived to have arrived and start learning the history. Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang begun to work for his mausoleum which took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life. In 1974, a group of farmers uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby the royal tomb, which caught the attention of archeologists immediately. The museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters, divided into three sections, No. 1 Pit is the largest, there are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back. No. 2 Pit, found in 1976, is 20 meters northeast of No. 1 Pit, It contained over a thousand warriors and 90 chariots of wood. Archeologists came upon No. 3 Pit also in 1976, 25 meters northwest of No. 1 Pit, It looked like to be the command center of the armed forces, with 68 warriors, a war chariot and four horses. Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. After our 3 hour ride back to Xian centre, we went for a group lunch and chilled for the afternoon, it started raining so we mostly stayed in our rooms reading/napping or playing ping pong and pool, plus packing our bags as tomorrow we leave early to head to Shaolin.