I arrived in Xi'an at the crack of dawn (5.22am to be precise!). I decided it was a bit too early to head straight for the hostel so I wandered around and picked up some breakfast. I'd been walking around for about an hour when I checked my map and realised I was only 10min away from the hostel - so my inbuilt GPS must have been working!

Quickly dumped my things in the hostel and then I was off to discover this new city! I went for a walk to the Muslim Quarter which was really laid back and had some excellent street food for lunch. I went and explored the Old Mosque and then the Drum Tower. I'd done so much walking but decided to walk a little bit further to sample the Yang Rou Pao Mo (Crumbled Unleavened Bread Soaked in Mutton Stew) which is the traditional dish of the region.

The next day I was up early to go and see the teracotta army. It was amazing to see and I actually found myself interested in the history of the place (I don't normally get excited about history!). Turns out a farmer digging a well had dug up a teracotta head in 1974 and that's how the whole place was discovered! The actual tomb of the Emperor still can't be opened as he surrounded himself in 5m deep mercury - talk about the lengths people will go to!

I was due to catch my train home the next evening so I got up and checked myself out of the hostel before heading over to the City Wall, hiring a bike and riding my way around the whole thing. It took me just over an hour to get round and it was an excellent way to take in the whole city - even if I did get a little sunburnt! I also had time for a bit of haggling so picked up a couple of souvenirs and went and had a walk around the Big Goose Pagoda.

I had a great time in Xi'an, the city is so chilled out and laid back - a pace which is dramatically different than Beijing. Having said that I was looking forward to going home to Beijing and heading off to Qingdao at the weekend...