Xian

We flew from Beijing to Xian, which is about a 2 hour flight. With the traffic in China we are becoming extremely familiar with, we finally arrived at our hotel a little after lunch. We grabbed something quick at the cafe there and headed out to the city wall. We rented a tandem bicycle and cycled around the wall. It would take about 2 hours to go all around it, so we rode for about 30 minutes and then started back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 

It took over 30 minutes to find a can to take us back to the hotel. Apparently the drivers here are in short supply and can pick where they want to go. We finally begged one to take us paying double what we should have. 

We went to a Tang Dynasty dinner show at night and had a dumpling dinner. It was neat to try all of the different kinds. The show was pretty impressive with music and dancing from that time period. 

The next morning, we traveled out to see the Terracotta Warriors.  A farmer discovered them in the 1970s and now there is a large museum and archaeological site.  There are three pits and seeing the warriors up close was amazing.  Each one has a different expression and there are still more being repaired.

We had lunch nearby (more yummy noodles!) and then headed back to Xian to walk around the Muslim quarter.  It was a great place for souvenirs and seeing that part of the city's culture.  The pictures don't really do the chaos justice.  Over all, we had a great time seeing all of the sights, but it was also so nice to get home.