Monday 2nd April

The lights got switched on sharp at 6:30 am, why do the Chinese need to go to sleep and wake up so early I do not know!

We got off the train in Xi'an around 8:30 ish, were we had to catch a public bus to the hotel. Well…trying to get to the bus stop was a mission in itself. There were people EVERYWHERE! We managed to board the bus, which was tightly cramped, there are no limits of how many people can be standing on the bus! Luckily there wasn't too many stops to wait for! We checked into our rooms and had a shower before meeting downstairs for our orientation walk.

The city was easy to navigate around, the bell tower sits in the middle and there are 4 roads that lead off form it, North East, South and West. Simple. We walked through the small alleyways with the markets everywhere! It was more hassle free here, so I enjoyed wandering through without being asked 'what you looking for?'

We went into the oldest mosques in the city, The Great Mosque, which is over 1000 years old; it was set in lovely grounds with blossom trees coming into bloom. The temple is an Islamic mosque, you could see into the prayer hall with all the mats lined out, we couldn't enter for obvious reasons. This mosque was built in 742 during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). This was a result of Islam being introduced into Northwest China by Arab merchants and travellers from Persia and Afghanistan during the mid-7th century when some of them settled down in China and married women of Han Nationality.

As we were in the area and we didn't have much time after today we went into the drum tower which was next to the market. The drum tower was used to tell the time for the locals to wake up and when the gates of the city were closing at night. We walked to the top and got a good view over the top of the market.

The Drum Tower is located northwest of the Bell Tower of Xian, across the Bell Tower and Drum Tower Square. Both of them are called the 'sister buildings' or 'morning bell and dark drum'. In ancient China, especially from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the drums were used to signal the running of time and on occasion were used as an alarm in emergency situations.

The Drum Tower in Xian was initially built in 1380 during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was renovated twice in 1699 and 1740 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is a two-storied post and panel structure, 34 meters (about 112 feet) high and 52.6 meters (about 172 feet) long from east to west as well as 38 meters (about 124 feet) wide from north to south. The architecture style of the Drum Tower is a combination of the styles of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Qing Dynasty. However, the Drum Tower also has some innovative features, it should be mentioned that there is no iron nail used anywhere in the Drum Tower.

We then went to the bell tower across the street. The bell tower sat in the middle of the road so we had to go through the underground to get to it. We went the wrong way round and ended up walking round the entire underground until we found the entrance. We walked up to the top again and tried to work out which road our hotel was on. Oops we got so disorientated we ended up walking down South before realising it was the wrong road. Apparently we are down the East road! Well we have realised the best way to get to know a city is to get lost and now we know Xi'an better!!

The Bell Tower is a stately traditional building that marks the geographical centre of the ancient capital. From this important landmark extend East, South, West and North Streets, connecting the Tower to the East, South, West and North Gates of the City Wall of the Ming Dynasty.

The wooden tower, which is the largest and best-preserved of its kind in China, is 36 meters (118 feet) high. It stands on a brick base 35.5 meters (116.4 feet) long and 8.6 meters (28.2 feet) high on each side. During the Ming Dynasty, Xian was an important military town in Northwest China, a fact that is reflected in the size and historic significance of its tower.

The tower was built in 1384 by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang as a way to dominate the surrounding countryside and provide early warning of attack by rival rulers.

We finally got back to the hotel in one piece and we chilled out for a bit and got ready for food. Leon tried to book us a table to have Chinese hotpot, unfortunately it was a holiday hence why it was so busy, and booked up. We went any way, we were unsure whether we would get a table as the people sitting outside had been waiting for two hours! Luckily for us, the staff knew Leon and we got a table within 10 minutes. Leon was a great host and helped served us the food as it is difficult to do for the first time. We had two options, normal or spicy; you pick up the meat, lamb or beef, and put it in whichever pot you wanted. The pot was heat on the gas stove and you wait for a couple of minutes before fishing it out and eating it! We also go cabbage, lettuce, tofu and potato. At the end, Leon ordered some pigs brain, which looked horrible that we cooked and then Stu ate most of it. Gross!!

After dinner we ran, literally ran, to the wild goose pagoda to watch the water fountain show. It was really good, that had several sections of fountains that turned on and off with lights and music. There was one guy stood in the middle with an umbrella! Quite a few people ran across when the water stopped, but started soon after they ran out and got soaked! Funny to watch and laugh!

We headed back to the hotel as we had an early start to see the terracotta warriors.

Tuesday 3rd April

We were up and ready for 7:30 am to jump on the bus, it was around an hour or so drive to the site. We walked through the gates and watched the video about the terracotta warriors.

Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his afterlife. A group of peasants uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby the royal tomb in 1974. It caught the attention of archaeologists immediately. 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. It was unveiled to the public in 1994.Archeologists came upon No. 3 Pit also in 1976, 25 meters northwest of No. 1 Pit. It looked like to be the command centre of the armed forces. It went on display in 1989, with 68 warriors, a war chariot and four horses.

There are over 6,000 terra cotta warriors and horses in Pit 1, of which 1,000 have been unearthed. They are marshalled into a well-organized battle array composed of the infantry and cavalry. The vanguard includes 210 foot soldiers divided equally into three lines. The cavalry and war chariot follow close in line, forming the main body of the battle formation. The foot soldiers are alternated with the chariots drawn by horses, lined into 38 columns.

We went into pit 1 which is the biggest pit; there are over 6,000 terra cotta warriors and horses in Pit 1, of which 1,000 have been unearthed. They are marshalled into a well-organized battle array composed of the infantry and cavalry. The vanguard includes 210 foot soldiers divided equally into three lines. The cavalry and war chariot follow close in line, forming the main body of the battle formation. The foot soldiers are alternated with the chariots drawn by horses, lined into 38 columns. The site is split into three sections, the completed section at the front, the middle section was still being dug out and the last section is the hospital section, where the pieces are being stuck back together.

It is an unusual site to see, thousands of statues of warriors all in lines and each one of them different. Every single warrior facial features are completely different; it's amazing I couldn't find one that looked the same!

We spent about 40 minutes walking around the pit; it was very busy seeing as this is the main site to see in Xi'an.

We moved on to pit 3 which is much smaller and darker! This is the command centre or headquarters for all the groups in the other two pits. The unearthed artefacts include 68 terracotta warriors, four horses and one chariot all arranged in a layout that is quite unique. There wasn't as many warriors as pit 1 but still impressive. We spent 25 minutes here and then we got ice cream. I had viennetta ice cream…on a stick! It was amazing!!

We went to the last pit, pit 2! This is the most spectacular of the three pits. Compared to Pit No.1, the combat formations in Pit No.2 are more complex, and the units of armed forces are more complete. According to preliminary calculations, there are over 80 war chariots, about 1,300 terra cotta warriors and horses, and thousands of bronze weapons. It is a revelation to first discover the terra cotta general, the kneeling archer and the warrior with saddle horse in the pit. This is slightly bigger than pit two, the main highlight was a few of the warriors was in glass cases so we could get a better look at them. One of the sitting archers still had some of the original red paint on its belt.

We had 20 minutes to wander round before we went to the chariot room. The chariots were destroyed by the roof falling in but they had rebuilt them to give you an idea of what they looked like.

We were pretty hungry after spending all day walking around, we went to subway as there was no other option for us! We had our food and went back to the bus for our trip back, weaving our way through the tiny villages that populate around Xi'an.

We made it back to our hotel where we had a few hours or so to get ready for dinner, we had booked a table for dumpling buffet.

Before that we needed to get supplies for the train at your local…Wal-Mart! Leon gave us directions which we both swore he said through the shopping mall at the back. So that's what we did, but this was no normal shopping mall. New labels in bigger stores were surrounded by local stores and it was heaving full of people. We got very lost, there was no 'back' of the mall! We asked a few people a couple spoke in English but their directions weren't too good. We finally asked one more lady who only spoke Chinese but I managed to figure out what she meant, turn left and in the other side of the mall. Finally! We found Wal-Mart! It was huge; we navigated around with our wheelie basket in tow and picked up the few essentials. Baked goods in the form of dinner and drink. I have fallen in love with the local goods, one being a milky flavoured drink with jelly type chunks. Doesn't sound nice when describing here but it is good! With lots of sugar! We found bottles of coke for a grand total of 27p. How ridiculous! We also had to pick up some chocolate, which I have eaten more of since leaving the UK. We navigated our way back through the hundreds of people to try and locate an ATM. We are fans of the ICBC branch as they have the English option and seem to be the national bank here. But finding one on the main shopping street seemed impossible! We managed to locate a different ATM near our hotel, we popped back across the road to the local bakery for more cake! Yummy!!!

We got ready and left for the dumpling buffet, I was concerned what the portion sizes would be, as I have never seen a small dumpling yet! We tried so many weird and wonderful flavours! They all came in small sizes, one flavour each which was good! I can't remember all the different flavours, I did take a lot of pictures! A lot of the dumplings took the shape of what was in the dumpling i.e. the spicy chicken was in shape of a chicken, the duck was a duck and the walnut dumpling looked like a walnut! It was amazing how they actual make the dumplings into these shapes as I struggled doing this in Mongolia! The walnut was possibly the weirdest flavour, it was really nutty and tasted sweeter than savour and should have been a dessert more than anything! We also had potato and orange, which tasted like Terry's chocolate orange, minus the chocolate, pumpkin, beef. The best by far was the duck dumplings. Tasted like Peking duck but in a dumpling! Amazing!! We went for dessert at the nearby Hagan Daz. Yummy!

We went back to the hostel as we had agreed to wake up early before check out to go for a bike ride on the city wall and have enough time to shower before our next 24 hours of full travel!

Wednesday 4th April

Today we woke up with the thought that we have 10 days left in China/Hong Kong before we hit Asia and had a brain storming session on the way to the city walls.

We had to walk all the way to South gate, where we had to cross an insanely crazy road. No underground subway or crossings (not that the Chinese actually obey red and green lights). We managed to get across the road in one piece! Phew! We paid for our entrance fee and walked to the top to rent our bikes. There was a slight confusion on how much deposit we had to pay as we didn't have enough money for 100 Yuan each. Luckily we managed to settle for 300 Yuan for all 5 of us. So Maria, Nina, Ida Stu and I picked our bikes and off we went! When I first pictured cycling on the city wall, all I kept thinking off was a wall similar to the Great Wall all bumpy and full of steps. Luckily it was quite the opposite, it was a little bumpy in places and we all got sore (as the Swedish girls described it) bottom bones! We cycled the 14km round Xi'an with great birds eye views! I felt like I had gotten my exercise for the week!

We bombed it back, which is a lot harder when you trying to weave in and out of the locals! On our way back we saw a man trying to sell puppies on the street, which didn't look too nice. Both Stu and I wanted to steal them all from him, but that plan was foiled from the start!

We had enough time to have a shower and check out before 12. We had to find some food and be back for 5 pm where we were leaving for the train. We found pizza hut, yes I know it is bad, but there wasn't many easy options for food for us without Leon to translate! There was no buffet options and you could still order Chinese style food instead of pizza! We headed back to the hotel to make use of the free Wi-Fi as we had come to a conclusion on our next part of the trip.

We have decided we wanted some time to relax and not do a lot since we have been on the go for a while, and wanted to sit by a beach for a week and do nothing! There isn't too many big resorts, from what we can see, near to Bangkok, but there was a few in Cambodia. We thought about over landing it, but with the overland border controls could take a while so we looked at flights from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, we found one for 3 hours after landing in Bangkok. After much talking and thinking we booked it!

Then we will stay one night in Phnom Penh seeing as travel at night in Asia is a big no-no, as there are no street lighting and people drive at crazy speeds! We will pick up a bus for the next day to the seaside resort of Sihanoukville on the South coast where we have booked a hostel for a week. The hostel is about 200m from the beach and has a restaurant and bar onsite too, costing a grand total of $3 a night. Perfect! So that's where we will be from the 15th April for the week.

We have a rough plan of going to Kampot east of Sihanoukville to visit Bokor National Park, then return to Phnom Penh to visit the nearby sites. Then travel to Battambang and onto Siem Reap, planning reaching there for the 3rd May to meet up with Ant and Kate to do the Angkor Wat temples. We are toying with the idea of trekking or cycling along the Mekong River from Kratie to Stung Treng (depending on how long it will take) and return to Phnom Penh to go across the border to Vietnam. After that we will travel the country North but unsure of the route yet. So instead of the two weeks in Cambodia we had planned it will be more likely one month. But this is of course subject to change from a thousand reasons I can only begin to think of!

Back to the present, we finally booked all of the above (I have updated the travel diary on the blog so you can see where we are going!) and tried to sort out my bank which proved to be the most complicated thing ever. Barclays has decided to change how to log in and website update and took an age to log in, also no help to slow internet connections we are receiving in China! After a stressful 10 minutes of constant swearing mission completed! We quickly packed up ready for the bus ride to the station.

It was pretty busy in the bus and trying to stand for ages with an oversize backpack is a lot harder than it looks! We jumped off at the station and did the usual security checks which is kind of like airport check in with the x-ray scanners. It was beginning to become a pain taking you bag on and off and fighting with locals to get your bags on and pick them up. I am beginning to tire from the city and looking forward to some countryside. We boarded our train at 7 pm marking the beginning of our 24 hours of continuous travel. First is our train to Chongqing. We managed to get 6 of us in one compartment, Stu, me the three Swedish girls and Leon. We had an amusing few hours before bedtime (10 pm remember!) I taught the girls the banana dance than Breton had taught us. Another Jackie Chan movie came on the TV, Red Light District, I think. Which was good, no sound and was in Chinese too but there was one hilarious moment where a hovercraft, driven by Jackie, ran over who I assume is the bad guy while play golf and ripped his clothes off showing his bum! Stu and I wet ourselves laughing for hours over this. We have decided to watch the movie in English when we get to Hong Kong as we are staying in a decent hotel, the Marriott thanks to dad's points, so hopefully should get a decent connection to stream a movie!

We finally went to bed around 10ish due to it being pitch black! I had top bunk which proved harder to reach than before as the stairs are in the middle of corridor. I ended up smacking my head on the overhead lockers and nearly falling back into the corridor and had a great struggle trying to climb onto the bed itself. I dreaded the morning trying to get back down!

Overall view on Xi'an:

Overall, I didn't enjoy Xi'an. Maybe due to it being the holidays and more people were out and about but I couldn't enjoy it as much as Beijing or Shanghai. The main site here is the terracotta warriors, which is a spectacular site. The city itself was just too crowded for my liking and I grew tiresome of the rude Chinese locals!

Total miles travelled from UK: 9799

Transport taken:

Trains = 17

Hours ahead of UK:

+8

Our Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150955120793986.529047.501883985&type=3&l=b60ae31141