We arrived in Xian to another downpour, so felt the only sensible option was to try and commandeer a taxi to our hotel. The hotel had written directions prior to arrival and told us to expect the fare to be 17 yuan. Initially, we couldn't find the taxi rank, so ducking umbrellas and large puddles we headed for the information centre across the concourse outside. They didn't speak much English, but seemed to recognise the word taxi and pointed towards the side of the station. When we got there we found a number of green taxis all filling up with passengers. Eventually, the taxis disappeared and we were left standing on the curbside, trying to stop the rain sneaking below the umbrella.

As we stood wondering when the next taxis would appear middle-aged women sidled up next to us and asked where we were going. We showed her the booking page for our reservation which detailed the address in Chinese and English. She nodded and said 80 yuan. Before heading to the taxi rank we had already been offered quotes of 50 and 60 so we told her NO. She immediately reduced the price to 50. Fearing we could be standing on the pavement in the pouring rain for some time we accepted her offer of 50 and followed her. She led us to a white van and ushered us into the back. It was like one of the vans you see on hostage films when the hero is bound, tied and thrown in the back. The van had a dark film over the windows so we could only see out of the front of the van, and even that visibility was poor with the rain. Miraculously they took us straight to the hotel, and the long journey through the traffic jams seemed to justify the fare in our eyes.

In Xian, we had booked to stay in an apartment. It turned out to be a double room in a four-bedroom apartment on the 19th floor of a tower block. It was actually very nice although sharing toilet facilities can often be tricky when the shower is there too.

We planned to spend the rest of our arrival day exploring the locality and getting our bearings so we headed off to the Small Goose Pagoda. Not as grand as the Pagodas we saw in Japan, but set on nice grounds so it was a nice walk. We also had a chance to go into the museum for free and see lots of Chinese artefacts. I was just glad to be out of the rain, but John found it interesting.

On our second day in Xian, we headed off to see the Terracotta Warriors. Two public buses later we were outside the complex. For those of you wanting to visit just get yourself to Xian railway station and then take the 306 (number 5) from the area to the right of the station as you face the front of the building. For just 8 yuan (80p) it takes you all the way.

On arrival at the complex, we had to pay the rather steep entrance fee of 150 yuan, before we were allowed in. This entitled us to enter into all the pits so we headed off. The first building we chose turned out to be the best. The excavated area has been covered with the shell of the building allowing visitors to walk undercover around the outside of the worked area. The Warriors themselves were actually pretty impressive. There are still many more which lie in fragments under the earth of the area, and many which have not been rebuilt yet. The top end of this pit is the area where the workers work on reconstructing the figures, although there was no one working there when we visited, which was a shame. The other two pits still have lots of fragments under the earth so there wasn't so much to see, although they did have some completed examples in display cases so they could be viewed at close quarters.

Probably two of the most impressive figures were those of the coach and horses. Housed separately they had amazing detail and were well crafted. On leaving the site we headed back to the public bus area, through the myriad of stalls, fast food, and souvenirs, managing to escape the Inflated prices and keen salespeople.

We were due to leave Xian on the sleeper to Shanghai. As it left at teatime we had half a day free for exploring first so we decided to head for the famous Big Wild Goose Pagoda ( No, don't worry I hadn't heard of it either before we came here). The route was pretty direct from our accommodation so we chose to walk. It gave us some more first-hand experience of appalling driving. In China vehicles are driven on the right...all okay so far. They are also driven in the cycle lane, or on the pavement, and it seems common practice to drive against the flow of traffic. As the roads here in Xian tend to be wide we were pleased to see many of the junctions had pelican crossings. There are often no islands in the middle of the road, so if you don't make it all the way over you're stranded. No problem we thought, we'll wait for the green man. As the green man appears pedestrians step into the road and start to cross. Then an SUV or other executive car comes round the corner, honking at the people crossing the road.

Apparently the Chinese operate the system we've started to use in the UK where you can turn right at junctions if it's clear to do so. Unfortunately, the locals seem to omit the last bit and go anyway, so you have to be alert to traffic potentially coming at you from all directions. You're not even safe on the pavement here as many people use the area to park cars and drive down the pavement to find a space, resulting in broken and uneven pavings. There's a lot of construction here, roads being dug up, buildings demolished which have produced a lot of dust in the air, and further obstruction of pavements. It has to be one of the worst places for driving standards since Saigon.

It was a long walk taking over an hour, but when we eventually got there we found the fountain show in full flight. A water show set to music it was nice to watch, and it was popular with the locals. The pagoda was covered in scaffolding so we didn't bother with that, instead just having a walk around the park area. There was lots more to see in Xian, but the constraints of our visa made two nights/ three days our maximum time, as it's " Next stop Shanghai"!