The terrecotta army has the potential to be amazing but somehow it misses the mark, it's not their fault of course they are generally stood around not doing much!


It's just, well it's all a bit Disney - cheap Disney. You have to walk past the 700 shops, stalls & street hawkers and through half a dozen turnstiles to get to the show pits. Then there's the tourists spoiling the view (& the Chinese version of courtesy is somewhat er different), anyway eventually you get to the warriors.

Which are strangley similar to the hundreds of fake ones you had to walk by to get from the bus stop to the real things.

So having had an overnight train in and a flight out, this could be a costly detour so it's a bloody good job that Xi'an is more relaxed, has some decent sightseeing and an entertaining night market to add to the overall experience.


In the end I'm glad we came, the 'Army' is one of the historic wonders created at a time when art, quality and passion created such a spectical. It' just a shame the current regime did not surround with the same!

Next stop Guilin...