Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

We left Shanghai at about 3pm yesterday... and after a loooong train journey of almost 24 hours we have finally arrived in the ancient city of Xi'an. We were hoping for a party atmosphere on the train with the whole group together, but we got split up as it was the end of the holidays with everybody returning home so was very busy. Still, we had 4 friendly Chinese for company in our 6 berth cabin offering us food to eat... and beleive it or not, the journey actually seemed to go quickly!

After leaving the heat of Shanghai, we got off the train into the cold damp weather in Xi'an. We have a great hotel inside the Ming city walls, although wondering around some of the city streets we could have been anywhere as we passed Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks.... We had a great meal courtesy of GAP Adventures in the evening as they were kind enough to pay for everything after we were all split up on the train. We met our tour leaders family as they are all from Xi'an... his wife and young daughter came to the meal and it was fascinating talking to them all.

The main reason we are in Xi'an is to see the TerraCotta Army. When we started planning our travels, the Terracotta army was on the must do list, so it was amazing to actually walk into Pit 1 where the bulk of the army were constructed. We both could have wondered around for ages looking at all of the different warriors, transfixed by the detail on each one and in awe of how they were constructed thousands of years ago... and all of this for one man, the first Emporer Qin! Some of the warriors still had paint on them... it must have been an incredible sight to see them all freshly constructed and painted in full battle dress... the mind boggles! Driving back past the hill where Emporer Qin is buried in his tomb, we couldn't help but wonder whether it will ever be excavated... we'd definatley come back to see whether the historical accounts of huge palaces and rivers flowing with mercury are true!

We have uploaded a few photos out of the hundreds we took... we will try and upload more at some point when the connections are faster... otherwise we will need to spend a couple of days in a Chinese Internet cafe!

Off to Chengdu next to see the Giant Panda Reserve... an one hour flight this time instead of an overnight train journey... the whole group is thankful for that!

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