On Wednesday afternoon, me and Jess got some lunch once we were sorted then went to visit the Bell and Drum towers in the city because they are close to the hostel. The were interesting and we saw some people singing Auld Lang Syne on the bells.

Afterwards we walked through the muslim quarter looking for the great mosque but got distracted by all the shops and food stalls, it was really cool! We did some bargaining, bought some souvenirs and ate some weird food. We went for the speciality noodle and bread soup but it wasn't so good (at least the veggie version). You need to try these things!

We went back to the hostel and I got clean (yay clean clothes!) then we had a few beers. The bar in the hostel was busy and very cheap (5RMB for a big bottle) but it seemed to be full of locals trying to practice their English or pick people up. We spoke to one Chinese couple called Joe and Claudia who suggested we should got to the Terracotta Warriors together, so we agreed to meet at 7:45am... After they left the bar we went for a walk to find bar street but it was rubbish so we had another one at the hostel then went to bed.

Yesterday it was a struggle to get out of bed for 7am... We were late and then after we met Joe and Claudia we had a stop at Maccy's for some coffee and breakfast. We eventually got on a bus to "Bīng Mǎ Yǒng" about 8:30am.

I slept on the bus but felt better once we'd arrived. Jess got an audio tour so was able to tell us things as we went around. We went to the exhibition first then to Pit Two which was huge but still quite covered, then to Pit Three which was small but almost all excavated. Finally we went to Pit One which was also huge and at least half excavated, there were warriors everywhere! It was amazing to think no-one knew this existed until 1980's, there was never records or anything. In a lot of ways it was fortunate because it was never pillaged like the pyramids or destroyed as it could've been if it was found earlier.

After we had finished with the warriors we went out for a meal which was really nice, Joe and Claudia had good taste in food!

We then caught the bus to Huaqing Pool that was recommended by both of them. It was nice but I think I have been spoilt by Beijing. There was a pool that was apparently used for bathing by one of China's most famous beauties.

We took the bus back and arrived in Xi'an about 4pm and I was getting tired. We had to go back to the hostel so Jess could sort out some things for uni then we went out for a hotpot meal with Joe and Claudia. Claudia's dad also joined us and it was pretty cool. We each had a pot with boiling water and we put anything we wanted into it. When we'd finished, Joe and Claudia went to the wall and me and Jess went for a rest so we exchanged details and said goodbye.

Back at the hostel I caught up on my internet and got ready to go out. We met some Aussie girls Jess had been talking to earlier and went looking for a bar (again) and failed (again). We had another beer at the hostel then called it a night since the new girls had to leave early the next morning. In our room we actually spoke to our anti-social room mates a bit. The two French guys were chatty, the English were a "thinker" and a "contemplator". They went out after a while and we got some sleep, aaah!

Today I had a lie in and then grabbed some breakfast. I also found Nate and Andrew :D We're going to meet them later, they're off to the warriors and judging by Jess still being in bed, we're having a quiet day.