Xi'an, ancient capital

We arrive in Xi'an on the overnight train. Xi'an is an average-sized city in China, 4 million people in the city proper and another 3 million in the surrounding area. Most people come to visit the terracotta warriors, a vast life-sized ceramic army buried near the tomb of an ancient emperor. The emperor insisted on being buried with his real life army. Needless to say, they balked after he died. We visit the warriors in the afternoon after we arrive. I'm struck by the immensity of the hanger they have built over the whole property. Only a portion of the soldiers have been unearthed because the brightly colored paint on the warriors disintigrates within days of being exposed to the air. We also meet the farmer who was given a whopping 30 yuan (5 dollars) to have his property turned into a World Heritage Site. He throws a fit if you take a picture of him.

In the evening the group spends time in the Muslim quarter, an area crammed with street vendors, souviner shops and cheap food options. Everywhere there are Chinese, haggling over roasted chestnuts, eating noodles, riding covered tricycles. Our leader, Nigel, picks a restaurant at random. We eat spicey food - meat on a stick, tofu on a stick, vegetables on a stick. The spicey fish just comes on a small metal tray.

Also of interest in Xi'an are the ancient city walls that form a ring around the center of the city. They are high and thick, with four gates at each point of the compass rose. Lynette, Kylie and I rent bikes and spend 90 minutes riding along the top of the walls, past the guard towers and through the morning haze. Afterwards we visit the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower, ancient structures oddly out of place among the hotels buses and flashing neon lights. Another overnight train ride awaits us, this time to Chengdu.