Fascinating markets and the Terracotta Army

Xian, China

Xian was a fascinating city with part of it surrounded by a huge city wall. You can rent bicycles and ride along the top. We got some great views of the city and managed to ride the 8 mile parameter in time to return our bike despite being stopped on multiple occasions by locals wanting pictures with us. We’ve got a taste of what fame might feel like whilst travelling China, children gawp – and sometimes even cry at the sight of me. People take sneaky but blatantly obvious pictures of us, and sometimes we are stopped to pose with entire families.

Another highlight of Xian was the Muslim quarter, an area filled with street vendors and ram packed with consumers. Noodles, dumplings, barbequed meat, chicken feet, pig snouts, trotters, fried squid, potatoes and countless things I don’t know the name for fill every inch of the place. The stall that caught Kerry’s eye the most was a candyfloss stall, but not just ordinary candyfloss. It was multi-coloured candyfloss spun with talent into incredible shapes before your eyes.
The main reason for our visit to Xian was, of course, to visit the famous archaeological site of the Terracotta Soldiers. The site is incredible. The skill of the archaeologists who have recovered the site is amazing. Thousands of life-size figures stood before us.

On our last night in Xian, we had a BBQ dinner – Chinese style – on the rooftop of our hostel that looks out over the wall towards the neon city skyline. It was a great way to finish our time here.