After flying into Beijing (via Hong Kong), I took an internal flight to Xi’an and the home of the Terracotta Army. I managed to wander aimlessly around the subway in the centre of Xi’an in a vain attempt to find my hostel and ended up having to ask directions! I was only one street away! 
I went to visit the Bell Tower in the main square. After listening to the un-impressive audio tour, I caught a music show that they had.
They had five people playing traditional Chinese instruments and managed to end the show by playing Auld Lang Seine! I then went to the neighbouring Drum Tower and caught a drum show. This was far better than the music show!
I then headed to the Great Mosque in the Muslim area of the city then I headed over to the Beilin Museum. There were lots of statues and pottery items but most of the signs were in Chinese so it was a little hard to understand!
The next day I took a tour to see the one thing that I had come to Xi’an to see – the Terracotta Army. Unfortunately it was one of those tours that take you to 5 or 6 other places first hoping that you’ll buy some overpriced item and gain them commission!! The first stop was the Dibao Silk Company which gave us an interesting talk on how they make silk but didn’t persuade any of us to buy anything! Next we stopped at the Banpo Matriarchichal Clan Village which is about 6000 years old to see the excavations that they have done.
We then stopped at the Terracotta Museum and got our first taste of the warriors – by coming face to face with two life-size ones (with no head to allow you to stand behind them and taking a photo of yourself as a warrior!) They showed us how the warriors were created and allowed us to buy miniature versions of them for 50 Yuan (about £4) or you could order a life-size warrior for 1,000,000 Yuan (£98,000!) and they would ship it to you! I chose to go with 2 small ones! What would you do with a six foot terracotta statue anyway?!
Our next stop was the Huaqing Hot Springs where the Emperors used to go for their leisure time. This is also where the Xi’an Incident occurred in 1936 when Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by his own troops and made to sign a treaty with the Communists. The bullet holes are still in the walls (with little signs next to them to point them out)! We then went onto Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum which is yet to be excavated. After watching a dance show in the boiling midday sun (with no cover), we climbed the 412 steps to the top of the hill to take in the great views from there.
Then we headed off to the main event. It was a relief to be able to go indoors away from the sun, but the 3 pits that hold the Terracotta Army are inside metal constructions and there is no cooling system there so it was boiling! The sight of the army took my breath away. There are up to 8000 life-sized warriors buried there with only a fraction of them excavated. They were lined up in battle formation and it is said that no two are alike – they all have different facial features and clothing and that there were possibly modelled on the army at the time (6 BC). They even had horses there.
We watched a short documentary about the discovery of them in 1974, when a farmer found a terracotta head in his field! We stayed there about 2 hours, visiting all the pits and taking so many photos! It was definitely worth the trip to come here and visit this!
That night, I went out for dinner with Andy & Connie, two people that I met in the hostel followed by a trip to the main square where the Big Goose pagoda is. They were having a fountain display and lots of people decided to cool down by going in the fountains! The next day, I went and visited the Big Goose Pagoda, which was part of the Dacien Temple. I climbed to the top of the pagoda (which had a mini exhibition in it) and had a great view of the city.
I went to visit the Bell Tower in the main square. After listening to the un-impressive audio tour, I caught a music show that they had.
They had five people playing traditional Chinese instruments and managed to end the show by playing Auld Lang Seine! I then went to the neighbouring Drum Tower and caught a drum show. This was far better than the music show!I then headed to the Great Mosque in the Muslim area of the city then I headed over to the Beilin Museum. There were lots of statues and pottery items but most of the signs were in Chinese so it was a little hard to understand!
The next day I took a tour to see the one thing that I had come to Xi’an to see – the Terracotta Army. Unfortunately it was one of those tours that take you to 5 or 6 other places first hoping that you’ll buy some overpriced item and gain them commission!! The first stop was the Dibao Silk Company which gave us an interesting talk on how they make silk but didn’t persuade any of us to buy anything! Next we stopped at the Banpo Matriarchichal Clan Village which is about 6000 years old to see the excavations that they have done.
We then stopped at the Terracotta Museum and got our first taste of the warriors – by coming face to face with two life-size ones (with no head to allow you to stand behind them and taking a photo of yourself as a warrior!) They showed us how the warriors were created and allowed us to buy miniature versions of them for 50 Yuan (about £4) or you could order a life-size warrior for 1,000,000 Yuan (£98,000!) and they would ship it to you! I chose to go with 2 small ones! What would you do with a six foot terracotta statue anyway?!
Our next stop was the Huaqing Hot Springs where the Emperors used to go for their leisure time. This is also where the Xi’an Incident occurred in 1936 when Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by his own troops and made to sign a treaty with the Communists. The bullet holes are still in the walls (with little signs next to them to point them out)! We then went onto Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum which is yet to be excavated. After watching a dance show in the boiling midday sun (with no cover), we climbed the 412 steps to the top of the hill to take in the great views from there.
Then we headed off to the main event. It was a relief to be able to go indoors away from the sun, but the 3 pits that hold the Terracotta Army are inside metal constructions and there is no cooling system there so it was boiling! The sight of the army took my breath away. There are up to 8000 life-sized warriors buried there with only a fraction of them excavated. They were lined up in battle formation and it is said that no two are alike – they all have different facial features and clothing and that there were possibly modelled on the army at the time (6 BC). They even had horses there.
We watched a short documentary about the discovery of them in 1974, when a farmer found a terracotta head in his field! We stayed there about 2 hours, visiting all the pits and taking so many photos! It was definitely worth the trip to come here and visit this!That night, I went out for dinner with Andy & Connie, two people that I met in the hostel followed by a trip to the main square where the Big Goose pagoda is. They were having a fountain display and lots of people decided to cool down by going in the fountains! The next day, I went and visited the Big Goose Pagoda, which was part of the Dacien Temple. I climbed to the top of the pagoda (which had a mini exhibition in it) and had a great view of the city.
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