Terracotta warriors and Basque seperatists

---

After our eventful arrival in Xi'an, we said goodbye to Lina and tried to find the bus stop for 603. The map we had showed us that it should be right at the front of the staion. We started to walk down it's planned route and after 10 minutes we caught up with it. Running up to the door we knocked on it and the driver waved us away. So we overtook the bus and carried on walking with our backpacks on. Ten minutes later the bus came to the bus stop and we were allowed to get on. Bus drivers it would seem, are the same in China as they are in the UK.

There really is only one reason to visit Xi'an, and that is the Terracotta armies. After checking into our hostel we went for a wander around town and found oursleves in the Muslim quarter where we could buy anything from Uiger bread to an entire cows liver. We passed on the latter.

That evening we met a hooligan from the Basque country, most people from the Basque country have a bit of an edge, but generally seem to be good natured people and eager to chat into the small hours. This guy however was plain scary. Wearing a Glasgow Celtic shirt he told how he hated Rangers, Chelsea, all Spanish clubs except Atletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Racing Santander (those in the Basque country). His talk of football reminded me of the Chelsea fans who constructed their own league table discounting all goals scored by black players.

He was with two friends from Spain (which he referred to as a seperate counry) who seemed a bit embarrassed to know him! After half an hour we managed to bore him enough that he found someone else to bother. Unfortunately, he ended up in the same room as us. He announced this by forgetting his key and beginning to kick the door down. At this point we were unsure if he was meant to be in the room or not. Either way, we switched beds so that Rhi was on the top bunk as this man was likley a psycho. We pretended to be asleep and ignored the kicking in of the door.

Once in the room, he said a few words to somebody and fell asleep. Apparently sleep is no place for silence and the loudest snoring I've ever heard started. I took an anti sickness tablet which makes you drowsy and it sent me off to sleep.

The problem with these tablets is that they don't keep you asleep when a drunken 6ft Basque seperatist sits on your leg and shouts "Toilet" in a variety of different languages. Rhian's decision to switch beds was a smart move.

I shifted under the brutes weight and my movement seemed to move him, so he went off in search of another toilet. I wasn't sure quite what to do. Do I stick a hand down thee and see if he found his toilet, or do I ignore it, hope he didn't and find out in the morning!

Quite simply, I'm the sort of person who hates not knowing, so I tested the area, and to my relief, he'd held his beer.

The next morning, five of the eight people in the room had moved into other rooms. The Basque guy greeted us at breakfast, his consisted of bacon, eggs and two bottles of beer.

We went off to see the warriors. 2,000 years ago, the Emporer Tang untied the provinces of China into what broadly constitues its border today. During his reign he surrounded himself with a massive army. In death he wanted to have the same power and had his labourers build over 60,000 soldiers, generals, officers, horses and chariots made from clay.

After his death, much of the area was deserted and buried. Until the mid 1970s when three farmers dug a well. They found the head of a soilder at the bottom and the discovery rolled on from there.

The soldiers are spread over three pits, though pit one is by far the big draw, of all the soldiers, not a single face is duplicated, so in some way, these people have been immortalised. Quite how so many soldiers came to rest, undiscovered, for 2,000 years is a mystery, but the image of thousands of individual stone faces in battle formation standing in fornt of you is quite special.

However you look at at the idea of taking an army to the afterlife with you, it's an impressive way to go. when we got back to Xi'an we again looked for the bus stop for the 603, again with no success. Only this time, no traffic was moving. There was a demonstration against Japan. Apparently they are to blame for everything from US demands for currency fluctuations, the typhoon approaching the south east coast and undoubtedly our 90 minute walk tot he hostel.

On our way to the train station leaving Xi'an, we finally saw the bus stop for the 603.

**I have changed the word tasted to tested. An unfortunate typo!

---