Xi'an

We took an overnight train to Xi'an with the sole purpose of visiting the Terracotta warriors, it was something I was really looking forward to. As we landed so early in the morning we went straight to the historical site which was a real bonus as we got to see all the warehouses before the large buses of crowds of tourists arrived.



The warriors are amazing and I was almost drooling at the thought of all that lovely archaeology waiting to be discovered there. The sheer scale of the project is amazing and the Chinese have done an excellent job of presenting the story and the archaeology.


This was taken on camera phone I should have a better example later on.

For the rest of the time in Xi'an we visited the Muslim market which is definately one of the best markets we've been to on this trip. I got a silk brocade jacket made for me and the Boy picked up lots of gear that he had been looking for. Later that night we met up with the gang and had the most incredible meal. Hanif took us to a local restaurant, the type you'd walk past without even noticing that food was served there where we were introduced to Hot Pot. The principle is that there is a vat in front of you with stock of the chilli variety and the broth variety and the fun part is that you get to put whatever you want into the soup to cook! It's like fondu without the cheese. It was all very delicious and the communal eating part was just as much part of the experience as anything else! We then drank far too much beer and nursed our sore heads until we got our next overnight train to Tai'an.