After a short flight from Chengdu we arrived in Xian, famous for the Terracotta Warriors and the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who united the country for the first time, started the building of the Great Wall of China, and standardised the currency and writing script.

As it was Rich's birthday we took the day off, although as there's no English TV or films in the cinema, a day off in China has limited appeal. Still, we had a few Tsing Taos and luckily found Mr Bean's Holiday on TV, which although was in Chinese was still understandable. Never thought we'd be grateful for Mr Bean.

The next day we visited the Shaanxi History Museum, which houses ancient artefacts from many of the Chinese dynasties, as well as some of the original Terracotta Warriors and artefacts from the Warrior's pits.

Luckily we discovered a youth hostel after a couple of days which served western food (including huge pots of tea with milk), as the food previously had been inedible and so we'd been living off Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds. We also booked ourselves on a trip to visit the Terracotta Warriors here.

The next day we set off early and made our first 'padding' stop at a silk factory. After a half English, half Chinese tour (he kept switching between the two unawares), the guide gave us an excruciatingly painful hard sell for half an hour before we were allowed to leave.

Next we visited the Banpo Neolithic Village, a six thousand year old part-excavated village with strong matriarchal culture. The women were the most respected citizens in the village, demonstrated by the more elaborate tombs, located higher than the mens.

Here we got to see the three different sections of the village; the living quarters (mostly foundations but also with burial pots for children who had died outside the homes), the pottery manufacturing area and the cemetary, with a number of excavated graves.

Next padding stop was a Terracotta Warrior manufacturers, where you can buy imitation Terracotta Warriors, the most expensive, life-size emperor costing 18.5k Yuan, or about £1,250.  Despite the guides hard sell we didn't buy one, though it would look pretty cool in your garden next to the BBQ.

Eventually we made it to the Terracotta Warriorrs.

The 2200-year-old Terracotta Warriors was discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. They began to find ceramics as they dug, which eventually led to the discovery of three pits, the first 210m by 60m containing an estimated 6k warriors and 35 chariots, the second containing about 1000 warriors, and the third containing only 68 warriors and a chariot.

The army guards the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang 1.5km's away, and is arranged in battle formation with 11 columns of soldiers behind a vanguard of three rows of crossbow and longbow bearers.

The expression on each warrior's face is different and some speculate that the sculptors used fellow workers or themselves as models.

The pits were supported by walls, pillars and beams, which once supported a roof, but around 50 years after the warrior's completion a fire was set during a peasant uprising, whereby the wooden roof collapsed and damaged the warriors.

Until we arrived at the pits we had no idea of the sheer scale of the army, so walking into Pit 1 was amazing.  Unfortunately the paint from the figures has worn off, apparently due to the air, light and tourists breath (not surprising as they eat noodles and spicy meat for breakfast!) over the years.

Much of the pit is still unexcavated, and near the back wall you can see many examples of re-built warriors, as well as thousands of broken parts in trays on the ground.

The next two pits are much smaller and less spectacular than Pit 1, though they do have some examples of each of the four different types of warrior.  All in all the army of Terracotta Warriors is one of the most spectacular things we've seen on our trip.

After the thee pits we visited the Horse Muesum, where a pair of bronze chariots and horses are on display, which were discovered about 20 metre's from the emperor's tomb.

Next stop was the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang , which unfortunately is inaccessible as the technology is not available yet to enter it without damaging everything within.

Although the emperor united the country, he was also known as a tyrant for his mass book-burnings and enforced labour.  Upon his death 3,000 of his concubines and many of the artisans and sculptors who created this tomb and the army of the Terracotta Warriors were buried alive with him, apparently to keep the location of his tomb a secret.  Pretty successful too as it was only discovered recently.

After a tour of the site we watched a story-telling performance about the the emperor, then headed off to our final stop, the Huaqing Pool and Palace complex.

The Huaqing Pools is a natural hot spring source that was used by successive dynasties, each of them building their own bathhouses and palaces, although today's buildings are relatively new.

Chiang Kaishek, leader of the Kuomintang (nationalist party) was abducted here by the Communists. Some of the bullet holes remain.

Xian is also famous for it's Ming city walls built by the first emperor of the Ming dynasty over the foundation of the previous Tang city walls.  It's possible to walk the whole 14km distance around the old city atop the walls, though due to the pollutoin the views aren't spectacular, so we only made it along part of the south wall.

Along the walls are watchtowers and strategic defense posts, but again most of these are relatively new.  The more sites we visit in China, the more we see is rebuilt or models of the originals.

On our final day in Xian we visited the Bell and Drum Towers, large towers in the centre of the city, the former again being rebuilt about 270 years ago (originally from the 14th century) and the latter containing the biggest drum in the world according to Guiness World Records, before leaving on the overnight train to Beijing.