Xi’an has a population of over 4 million – strange to think of the entire population of NZ in one city. The City walls were built in 1370 during the Ming Dynasty with a perimeter of 14kms
Big Goose Pagoda was built in AD 652 to house the Buddhist sutras brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang who spent last 19yrs of life translating scriptures with a team of linguistic monks –his travels inspired one of the most well known works of Chinese literature ‘Journey to the West’

Up at a reasonable hour of 0800 and off to Starbucks for a morning coffee. Quick finish to the packing and left for the hour long drive to the Terracotta warriors – one of the world’s biggest archeological finds. It is a subterranean lifesize army of thousands which stood guard over the soul of China’s first unifier the Emperor something who expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life. The discovery was fairly recent in 1974 when peasants drilling a well stumbled across some heads and informed the authorities. There are thousands of the warriors with evidently no two soldiers alike. They have lost their colours due to exposure to the air so I have taken a photo of a picture from when they were first discovered as they would have been an even more amazing sight when painted. Pit 3 – 72 warriors and horses. Pit 2 - 1300 warriors and horses – still being excavated. Detail is extraordinary. Pit 1 – size of an aircraft hanger 6000 warriors and horses all faced east ready for battle – 35 chariots made of wood but now disintegrated.
We caught a large golf cart to take us from the entrance to the start of Pit 1 – amazing – surely one of the wonders of the world even though they were built in something BC. Not as big as I expected but it may have been different if we could have stood alongside them. Wandered around for several hours and also saw a 360degree movie about the discovery. The farmer is no longer farming but signs books each day for tourists for a reasonable fee. I presume all his land was taken off him for the excavation so this is a good way for him to earn his living.
Left here by 1530 and back to Xi’an train station ready to get on our last overnight train. The 5 young ones managed to get a cabin together – the under 63’s. Very warm and humid. A long walk to the train station with our baggage – all my stuff together weighs 30kgs – I can do it but I am slow and steady. Lorna had a hissy fit just after boarding – I didn’t hear it but evidently fed up with people telling her what to do and how to it. If she had any inkling of common sense people wouldn’t need to tell her to move herself and her backpack and her 5 other bags out of the narrow corridor and into the compartment and to wait until everybody in on the train before organising her stuff – she moans about not having a bottom bunk but then wants to go to bed by 1930 which you cant do if you have a bottom bunk. Anyway during her petulance she sat on the end of the bottom bunk stretching her legs across the corridor and refusing to move them – everybody having to lift their stuff over her legs – I would have just pushed past – all over when I managed to get through apart from the tears. Our compartment all settled in together having a few laughs. All of us in bed by 2130 although lights not out until 2200. Took me ages to get to sleep as we were at the end of the carriage by the toilets – the men hoicking in the washtubs was firstly amusing and then disgusting but continued all night. Don’t know if I have said it before but the overnight trains are pretty good apart from the cigarette smoke that flows thru from the ends of the compartment. Didn’t sleep that great and up at 0600 but then train delayed so didn’t end up arriving until 0800.