Xi'an - Terracotta Warriors

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We came to Xi'an for one purpose really, to see the Terracotta Army, however there are a few other things to do in Xi'an too.

We arrived in Xi'an in the early evening after a 6 hour bus ride from Pingyao. The ride was quite good with comfy seats so we had a good sleep most of the way and didn't feel too tired. We booked into our hostel - Han Tang Inn and were greeted by a really friendly Chinese man called Lei . He asked us if it was raining outside to which we replied no, why? He looked at Pete and said "why is your hair all wet then?" I laughed and said, oh, no that's just he's hair gel he thinks it looks good. He looked AT&T Pete as if to say no it doesn't and we thought this was a good start, someone with a sense of humour (maybe Pete didn't find it quite as funny as me!

We sat around the bar area of the hostel which seemed relaxed I with quite a few more westerners than we had seen anywhere else. We got chatting to Justin from Alaska and had a good chat (over a few beers) about things we had experienced in China, e.g the spitting, the hard seat train rides, the babies with no nappies and the weird and wonderful food we had tried. Another couple came and sat with us, also from the US and a few beers turned into quite a lot well for Pete anyway). Before I knew it, it was 1am and Pete was slurring and making jokes that none of the Americans got with me having to embarrassingly tell them what he was talking about. Great night though, lovely to meet people who glad experienced many of the same things as well as other things too.

The next day we were supposed to be heading to the Terracotta Army but funnily Pete didn't fancy getting up so I sat in the cafe area chatting to Stephanie, Jim and Justin until they left for a bike around the walls - something we didn't do but I hear its quite good. Once Pete finally got up at about 1pm we walked to the Muslim quarter. This place was great - full of street stalls selling all kinds of foods with some lovely and some not so lovely smells. I tried a meat filled pancake type thing which was then deep fat fried- they do love deep frying everything in China which is something that really surprised me when I arrived. It was quite nice though.

We wandered up and down the street also walking through the market area which was full of colourful scarves, hats and general Chinese souvenirs. We really wanted a traditional tea set so stood in a shop contemplating for ages which one to get. We eventually bought one after a bit of bartering, however then thought how on earth are we going to carry this round with us for the rest of our trip? we are still now trying to work out how to send it home after China post told us it will get smashed to pieces if we post it!!).

The next day we got up early and headed to the Terracotta Warriors. After a bit of confusion at the bus station we got there in an hour and walked up to the pits. There are three pits here which have been excavated and we started with pit 3 (the smallest). The army was only discovered in the 70's and had been buried underground for over 2000 years. It was only discovered when some farmers were digging a well and they dug right at the front of the where the main army stood guard. People had even been buried on top of the army because it was dug so deep without it being discovered.

Pit 3 was relatively small (in comparison to the other two pits) and had statues of horses and the warriors, this was our first glance at the life size terracotta statues. Pit 2 was a huge area and a lot of it was still being excavated. This area was mainly empty with only remains of broken warriors in the excavated areas. There had originally been many warriors found here but almost all had been taken away for restoration or put into glass cases and on show.

Pit 1 is the largest area and is where over 6000 warriors were found. As you walk in you can see where the well was dug and directly in front are hundreds of warriors all lined up. It is true that no warrior looks the same. We took quite a bit of time looking at the warriors in this area as there were so many.

We had a good day visiting this sight, at first we were a little disappointed as felt it wasn't as great a sight as its made out to be, but when you think about how long ago these warriors were built and how each one is completely individual and stood there underground for over 2000 years without being discovered, it's quite amazing really.

Overall Xi'an was quite a surprising place, it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and we really enjoyed walking through the streets of the Muslim Quarter - where we ate some lovely traditional food. Although we didn't do any of the other sights we would definitely recommend coming here for a couple of days.

Tips:

You can get the bus quite easily directly to the warriors from the main train station in Xi'an. Don't get a tour to the warriors as you'll pay well over the odds.

When getting to the train station you need to cross over the road to the bus station. If looking at the train station entrance the buses are all lined up in the car park to the right of the station. The buses are light grey in colour. It costs 7RMB and takes 1 hour. Bus number 306.

Once at the warriors make sure you go to the ticket office on the right hand side , don't walk all the way to the top and buy tickets from people there as they are approx 50RMB more. Also when at the ticket office there is a sign saying you need to put bags in, you don't , you can take your bag into the area no problem.

Do the pits I'm reverse order so that you build up to the best bit. Be aware that not all has been excavated and not everything is on public display.

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