Xi'an

We arrived in Xi'an on Monday morning and came back to the hostel that
let us sleep on their rooftop. Spent the first day walking around the
city, including going up the Bell Tower. On Tuesday we did The
Terra-cotta Warriors. Our guide was funny and told us interesting
stories about the Emperor Qin Shi Huang who built the Terra-cotta
army. It was amazing to see, particularly pit 1 that has 2000
Terra-cotta Warriors standing in rows and rows. And even the broken
pieces in pit 2 were interesting to see, as you could see how they
should fit together. Only one of the figures was found whole, and they
call this The Magic Archer. After this we went to the souvenir shop as
the farmer who found the Warriors was there signing books. He didn't
look too excited to be there and didn't once smile or allow us to take
photos.

On Wednesday we did a 14km cycle on the city walls. There wasn't much
of a view from there, but it was really fun to cycle round especially
as Colin and I did it on a tandem bicycle. I helped Colin cycle all
the way, unlike the other couples where the girl sat at the back and
had a free ride. Later we walked round the city and through the Muslim
quarter.

Today we went to the fountain by the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. They do a
water show with classical music and the water is in-sync with the
music. I loved it, so fantastic! Colin was more amused at my reaction
to the show. We walked back to Xi'an centre from there to tire
ourselves out for the train journey to Chengdu tonight.