The main reason for going to Xi'an was to see the 'Terracotta Warriors' - a group of several thousand full-size clay models of soldiers and horses made for the tomb of the emperor Qin Shi Huang about 250BC. This is sited in Lintang county 35km east of Xi'an. It took 36 years and 700,000 labourers to complete. Each figure has a different face. But the first day of our visit was spent exploring the streets and alleys of downtown Xi'an, ranging from the shopping centre full of amazingly western goods to the Muslim quarter with its chinese-style mosque and street vendors.

Bell tower in central Xi'an	Coca-cola boat in main square in front of Bell Tower.
Inside the shopping centre	Food on sticks ready for 'hot pot'
The streets were full of motorised and pedal-powered rickshaws.	Cooking in the Muslim quarter of Xi'an
Are they waiting to be eaten?	Street vendor with a hand-held balance.
	Rickshaw traffic
Bicycle made of toffee by a street vendor	View into the mosque
The minaret!	Street vendors in the Muslim quarter.
Buddhists lighting candles at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda	The big wild goose pagoda built in 652 in honour of the monk Xuan Zhang who went to India to get the holy scriptures and translated them.
The Bathing Lake at Hua Qing hot springs	The famous rooms at the Hua Qing hot springs where the 'episode' took place in 1936 between Chiang Kaishek and his generals.
The first sight of the warriors in their immense ranks.
A more recent find, housed in the museum on the sight.
All of the warriors were painted, but on most the remaining colour was lost when they were exposed to air and light. The colour if this pair were preserved by a special process.	The mausoleum included beautiful smaller-scale bronze models of horse-drawn charriots, some complete with driver and parasol.