Xi'An

The next large trip I took was to Xi'An. We left on the May Day holiday and took a night train from Nanjing to Xi'An. After arriving in Xi'An we checked into our 4 star hotel, which we paid $20 a night. Then we headed to downtown Xi'An where we saw an old Bell Tower and Drum Tower. At the Drum Tower we also were able to see drum performance. After visiting the two towers we went to the Muslim district for dinner. Xi'An is interesting because it has a very large Muslim population. West and northwest China has a large Muslim population. Being the last large city before reaching these minority areas many minorities travel to Xi'An.

The next day in Xi'An we went to see the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is a set of life size statues located in the first emperor's tomb from about 200 B.C.. There are over 8,000 of these statues, with no two of them being the same. This was very cool to see and one of the sites I had most anticipated before coming to China.

After the Terracotta Warriors John and I went to see a Buddhist Temple. This temple is probably the best one I have seen because it was less commercial. Several monks obviously lived there as I saw them doing laundry and other household chores.

After seeing the temple we went to dinner and prepared to travel to Luoyang.