Wednesday 19th September was a long drive day to Xi'an up through the mountains although the scenery was obscured by the long tunnels cut deep into the mountains, one of which stretched for 37km arriving late at night to stay at 'Han Tang Inn Youth hostel'.
Xi'an is another big city with the inner city walls still intact forming a 14km long rectangle and the Bell tower in the centre where the main 4 streets converge.
Spent the next morning wandering around the Muslim quarter walking through the narrow winding streets browsing stalls selling a variety of goods, tourist souvenir stalls, antiques, street food, butcher stalls, puppies and birds in cages!
Saw The 'Great Mosque' which is one of the largest in China and a fascinating blend of both Islamic and Chinese architecture. Also this mosque faces west towards Mecca.
Had some fun with buses (missing stops, end of route and wrong directions) but at least got to see the Great Goose Pagoda which was used to store the sutra the monk 'Xuanzang' brought back from India along the silk road.
Next day we set off to see the Terracotta Warriors, discovered in1974 by peasants digging a well. Pit 1, I thought in particular was very impressive with ranks of life sized infantry figures carved individually and laid out in battle formation. Excavation works is still ongoing.
Xi'an was once the terminus of the Silk Road and my journey on this route begins in the morning!
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