Xi'an

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Our next stop on our China tour was the historical city of Xi'an in central China. The city used to be an ancient capital of the empire and stands at the end of the silk road, that lead all the way from Eastern Europe. The city is one of the best preserved places in China. Unlike so many other Chinese cities, it still retains its ancient city walls and contains some beautiful buildings, and most notably is the home of the world famous terracotta army.

The city is set out in a grid pattern so its really difficult to get lost in this place. All roads converge in the city at the ancient Bell Tower which stands majestically in the centre of town.

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Our first day in the city was spent visiting the Terracotta Warriors. The museum was about an hour's drive out of the city and on route we were taken to a factory where they make replicas of the warriors. I am normally unimpressed by these mandatory shopping stops but this was really interesting, as you could stand really close to the replicas and have a good look.

The museum itself is massive and it took us over three hours to see just the highlights. The main hall was vast and almost immediately you get your first view of the army below. There were row upon row of soldiers and chariots in the various pits. The detail on each of the soldiers is staggering and all of them have different facial features - thought to be modelled on the 7,000 sculptors who worked on the project. The most impressive thing is that we were only scratching the surface. There are countless numbers of pits awaiting excavation and it is going to take the archaeologists many years to complete.

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The following day we had some free time to explore the city. We walked along the city walls to get a birds eye view of the city and in the afternoon explored the mosque and the large wild goose pagoda. One highlight for me was the chance to bang the massive drum at the top of the Drum Tower in the middle of town.

In the evening we were off with the rest of the tour group to catch the overnight train to Beijing, ready for the next leg of our tour.