Terracotta Warriors

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Xi'an is a beuatiful city of 5M people, but also with quite a bad pollution problem. We stayed at the Bell Tower hostel which is right in the centre beside the old bell tower and is a great little place. They are reconstructing alot of the city. There are fabulous traditional buildings everywhere-built in pagoda style with the tiered rooves. The city walls have been rebuilt-their modern form date from the 16th century and we rented a tandem and cycled ontop. It's about 12km, very funny but much better being infront. There is no control when you're at the back so your cycling partner can scare the hell out of you by taking close turns and going down off ramps quickly.

You have a great view over the city-the numerous green areas with nice lawns, shrubs and trees, the skyscrapers, the wide busy boulevards and also the slums.

The muslim quarter is a great little area for souvenirs and trinkets but especially for food. Mainly kebabs.

A visit to Xian is not complete without seeing the terracotta warriors. The warriors are displayed in pits which are under large hangars. Pit 1 is the most impressive with many of the warriors in standing position facing the tomb. The other pits are largely unexcavated. They are impressive - about 1000 intact ones, 4 grades of warrior and each with a different facial expression. They were painted but the colour faded almost immediately after they were excavated. There are also horses and chariots and the weapons are diplayed in a separate museum. They were all built to protect the 1st emperor's tomb and apparently was a completely secret undertaking. They were discovered by accident in 1974 when a well was being dug by some peasants

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