So, Xi'an! One of the four ancient capitals of China. Xi'an means 'west and peaceful city' and was a much bigger place than we expected.

We have been keen to learn some mandarin and have mastered the basics. On the train to Xi'an, Max mixed with some locals and enjoyed some of their very strong rice wine and ham. Mr Wong was a friendly guy and keen to interact - Tori helped with lots of translating! Mr Wong stated that 'Chinese people are friendly but we can be hostile if people try to invade China'. Later, we learnt that Mr Wong was a retired general and that 'gānbēi' means bottoms up - it's no wonder Mr Wong and his friends were laughing.

From the train station we got a local bus to our hotel. 18 of us with backpacks on a busy local bus was quite an experience. The journey cost 2 yuan (about 20p).

After a quick shower the group was ready at 9am to head out for the day. It was a beautiful sunny day, and our first stop was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which is a few thousand years old and leans slightly to the west due to an earthquake. We had a guided tour around the Buddhist pagoda and then spent the afternoon in the Shanxi History Museum. It was cool to see some of the famous Terracotta Warriors up close - a taste of what was to come.

We had been eagerly awaiting our second day in Xi'an - a trip to the Terracotta Warriors. The army was discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974. Altogether there are three pits excavated and over 2000 warriors and horses restored. It is suspected that another 7000 statues are still buried underground. The statues were created around 2000 years ago to go in the tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, and protect his rule in the afterlife. The clay statues took 37 years to be completed by 700,000 people. They are incredible - each one is completely unique with different facial features. They are life sized and differ in height, uniform and hairstyle in accordance to their rank. They used to hold weapons but they were all looted or rotted away.

To finish an excellent day with an extravagant meal, half the group went to a dumpling buffet. We got to try about 20 different types of fried and steamed dumplings including pork, duck, tomato, fish, shrimp and sweet potato. It was definitely one of our favourite meals so far! Afterwards we met the rest of the group at the water and light show - the Chinese love a good water feature with jazzy lights! To end the night we all had a beer down a little local alley for 5 yuan each (50p).

On our last day in Xi'an we walked to the City Wall and rented out bikes for two hours. It was good fun riding around the top of the wall and you could see a lot of the city. We shared a tandem; it was nice to share the work as it was so hot and humid. In the afternoon we explored the drum and bell tower and bustling markets in the muslim quarter. We had a really delicious lunch with lots of lamb dishes (lamb is quite hard to come by in China) and noodles. It's really enjoyable eating around such a big table with everyone and sharing loads of dishes in true Chinese style.

As the evening drew close we made our way to the train station for our third hard sleeper to Shanghai. For a 16 hour journey the time went really fast and it's good fun playing games with people and treating it more like a social event. On the train they have boiling water available so we had noodle pots for dinner. We also have to give a mention to the toilets - they're awful! They've probably been the worst toilets we've experienced in any Asian country. They're all squat style (virtually a whole in the ground), with no loo roll supplied and are usually grotesquely dirty. One time (not on the train, just a little side story for you), Steph went into the public toilets and saw a Chinese lady approach a cubicle and then turn back in disgust. Not knowing what to expect, Steph had a peek in only to see a perfectly clean western toilet. It kind of highlights the difference in cultures in relation to the bathroom!

We think we'll leave it on that note. All you people back home, appreciate your toilet next time you use it.

Steph and Max x