Xi'an... the 'other Beijing'

A terracotta warrior that looks exactly like Steve!
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Highlits of Xi'an

Xi'an is a beautiful old city - it was the Chinese capital for 13 dynasties (a bloody long time) before being moved to Beijing. The city is surrounded by a massive city wall. It is also home to a large muslim population, and the middle-eastern markets sell delicious baclava and spicy pita bread.

We visited the terracotta warriors, a few kimlometres out of town. Rows of trenches house around 8,000 life-size pottery warriors, arranged in battle formation. The legend says the first emperor who unified China had the warriors placed to symbolically guard his tomb. The tomb itsself has not been opened as it is rumoured to contain rivers of mercury (deliberately placed there for decoration).

The terracotta warriors... 8000 life-sized warrior sculptures aligned in battle formation and buried. They were made around 200BC to guard the tomb of the Emperor who unified China.
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The warriors were truly amazing.  A complete waste of time and money to create if you ask us, but a highlight of the trip so far.

We also enjoyed a two hour bike-ride around the city walls.