Saturday 22nd October

Took a bus from the main railway station to the site of the Terracotta Army. At last public transport without having to stand. Seating only in this bus. The site is about 40 k out of the city and a massive 70 pence each one way. It took about an hour travelling through the suburbs of Xi’an. Massive constructions of new blocks of flats being built to house the many. Not a pretty site. Looked up populations of various cities and there are 9 million in Xi’an. About the same number of bicycles in Beijing !!

Pit 1 is the biggest of all.

This is the most amazing place I think We have ever been too. You see it in photo’s etc. but to actually see it all in place is incredible. It was only found in 1974 when a local farmer was sinking a well and found some artefacts and all this was discovered. They still have loads to excavate.

These deep pits have all been excavated from ground level with painstaking precision. Metal spears and arrows have all been found totally intact and still sharp. And to think that all this lot were constructed between 222 and 206 BC.

Half size bronze chariots.

Ate in great Cantonese restaurant tonight. Will download picies for Slim and Fred later in the Gallery section. Nighty night . 10.30 pm here. When do clocks go back ?