Entries about xi'an

We arrived into a VERY hot Xi'an (42 degrees) after a slightly stressful cancelled train journey, meaning we got there a bit later than planned. We entertained ourselves drinking Chinese beer until it cooled down a bit and then went up onto the huge city walls to explore. We managed to make it around 20 minutes along before a crowd of people starting sprinting towards us and we noticed how dark the sky had got... Not wanting to be left behind, we joined the fleeing crowds from what turned out to be a sandstorm, followed by one of the biggest storms we've ever seen.

The sky was full of lightning for hours.

The biggest attraction for the city is the world famous Terracotta Warriors, a quick bus ride away. The warriors were created as part of the first Chinese Emperor's tomb and are just of a ridiculous scale. They were discovered in the 1970s by local farmers trying to dig a new well, stumbling across 3 giant pits that have still not been entirely excavated. Every single warrior is unique, with a different facial expressions and clothing.

Xi'an is fairly unique in China, having a large Muslim population and a pedestrianised Muslim quarter. The food was brilliant, with lots more street food than other parts of China, including the Chinese hamburger and cold, sesame noodles. There are also old, Chinese-style mosques, complete with moon-doors!

The city walls in the dark!

Delicious dumplings!

We had another cancelled night train that we were supposed to be taking to Beijing, so had to change our plans slightly and catch a much more expensive high-speed train the next morning. After dropping our bags at our AirBnB and making for the Forbidden City, we discovered the tickets were sold out for the day and headed up to Jingshan Park instead. The park contains pretty much the only hill in Beijing, giving amazing views of the city and directly over the Forbidden City.