18/10 - Xi'an

We touched down in Xi'an (lit. West Peace) on Friday. First impressions were not good as we viewed the bland "could be any big city in china" city streets and the thick smog from the taxi. But I assured Si Phong that things would get much more characterful once we moved in to the old town within the ancient city walls. Our driver made a sudden turn in to a building site, "Ah a clever short cut!", we thought. Only it turned out that our hotel was in the building site, and that we were already within the city walls. Ho hum!

 

Thankfully the hotel itself proved to be clean and functional, just as the guidebook had promised. The purpose of visiting Xi'an was to see Bing Ma Young (or Terracotta Warriors), the thousands of life sized clay warriors which were discovered in 1974. However, as impressive as the warriors were, our most memorable moments in Xi'an were soaking in the sights and smells of the chaotic muslim quarter and a wonderful sunset bike ride around the city walls, which form a 15km circumference around the old town.