The soft sleeper was exactly what it sounded like - a soft sleep. We slept through the night until our alarm clock went off at 5:30 am. Soon after, the train arrived in Xi'an. As we stepped out of the station, we scanned through the crowd of cab drivers and hotel hawkers, all vying for our business. Suddenly, we saw someone holding a sign for the International Youth Hostel. It wasn't the one we had pre-booked, but it was right next door to ours, and they were kind enough to give us a ride to our new home - and what a home!

The Xiangzimen hostel was gorgeous. It is described as a perfectly preserved Sheyuan (Ming and Qing dynasty) style house, and there was beautiful hardwood, jade and artwork throughout. The layout of the hostel was long and narrow, evolving from the reception area to an outdoor courtyard, to a formal dining room, to a games room and finally, to a bar/lounge complete with a pool table. The bedrooms were upstairs. We had a four-bed dorm room, and were delighted to spend our $20.00 Canadian for the family for the night!!! That's right!

We checked in, power-napped for another hour, and then got up in time to catch a tour to see the Terracotta Warriors, our main reason for coming to Xi'an. We climbed into a van with a few other hostellers and, as we drove through the city, were greatly impressed by its beautiful city walls, clean streets, and green spaces.

Our guide had a very wacky sense of humour; something we are starting to realize is part of the Chinese culture. He made very lame jokes, but then felt obligated to tell us he was kidding and even explain the joke. It was very endearing. His name was Bruce. Yes, he also said his last name was Lee, and then told us he was "just kidding because Bruce Lee is a famous Chinese man, with a great sense of humour. He's funny. A movie star. You understand?"

Our first stop was at the Banpo Museum, where we saw excavations of an ancient village dating back 6000 years. We could see the footprint of the settlement, its moat, graves (complete with skeletons!), and pottery kilns.

Our next quick stop was at a jade showroom, where we were very tempted by the selection of exquisite dragons, ships, buddhas, and more. After that, we stopped at a pottery shop, where we learned how the Terracotta Warriors were made, and checked out the pottery, hand painted artwork and lacquer work. It was fascinating and fun.

We drove on, enjoying the beautifully manicured countryside set against a backdrop of misty (smoggy?) mountains, and listening to our very enthusiastic guide. We stopped for an inexpensive lunch, enjoying the Chinese food we are used to in Canada, but without the Canadian price! There were seven of us in our group, and we all had the set meal. Soup, noodles, meat, fish, and vegetable dishes were all set on a "lazy Susan" in the middle of the table, and everyone ate their fill.

After lunch, we also stopped at a silk "factory". First, we saw how silk thread is recovered from the cocoons containing only one silkworm (easy to unravel), and how silk batting is made from the cocoons containing two silkworms (not easy to unravel). The latter was used to fill quilts. Again we were tempted to buy quilts, quilt covers, jackets, shirts, needlework, and so forth. In the end, Margaret did make yet another purchase - a beautiful silk dressing gown. It truly is lovely and a quarter of the price one would find in Canada. Tessa was very sad she didn't buy anything (she's turning into a shopaholic!), but she found the prices too steep for her pocketbook. She was consoled by the fact that she might find something that she likes and can afford elsewhere in China.

Finally, we reached the site of the Terracotta Warrior Exhibition. How to describe it? Eight thousand larger than life-size ceramic warriors buried by the First Emperor of China to help him rule another empire in the afterlife. No two warriors are alike! It is very hard to imagine the effort that must have gone into this project - proof of the power the Emperor must have had to order such a monumental undertaking. We walked around Pits 1 and 3 and enjoyed the Exhibition Hall as well as a 360° movie. Overall, it was exactly what we'd hoped to see and the day was a success!

Our trip home was good until once again we hit Chinese traffic. It was a Sunday evening at 5:30 pm and yet the streets were jammed up. The good thing about driving so slowly was that we got to see the sights lit up by lights and enjoy the many beautiful watchtowers and gates of the city wall along the way. It occurred to us that spending one day in a city of 8 million is a little crazy, but we are sticking to our plan, with full intentions to return here one day. Tomorrow, we leave for Hong Kong, with some regret that we didn't explore this place a little more.