Brown Skies and warriors - Xia'an

A quick zip in a plane and I landed in the north of China. Xia'an. Home to the famed terracotta warriors. With only 2 weeks in China and not having 36 hours on a bus to spare, I opted for air travel. Xia'an was depressing on first impressions - a particularly bad day of air quality, everything appearing brown. It prompted me to gloomily ponder the price of "economic progress".

I settled into the hostel, hooked up with other travellers and decided on a self run tour to see the warriors. Still feeling a bit under the weather, I made it out to the large complex to check out the workings of a child's imagination.

On returning to central Xia'an, me and a French traveller decided to explore the Muslim quarter and were rewarded with entry into the peaceful gardens of a Chinese mosque.

Most fascinating was the Chinese architecture, being so used to Arabic representations of Islamic structures. Outside the walls fo the mosque was a different story. Crowded streets, souvenir and food stalls, meat meat meat -grilled or even lying around in chunks on concrete.

We tried some street foods and sampled all manner of desserts.



Sated and extra extra tired, we headed back to home base and were treated to the bell tower lit up at night.
I really, really have to get some rest. But Beijing tomorrow and I need to see the wall!