Day 10 - Terracotta Army and DIY dinners

Despite the initial appearance, no two statues are the same!

Day 10 - 03rd July

So, I woke up in a different dorm with different faces. Two Chinese guys and an American from Washington DC called Clinton.

Whasoup' man?

After brief introductions and a shower (not together), Clinton and I headed down the street to find some breakfast. We stopped off at a convenience store for waters before heading to a roadside breakfast place serving yangrou paomo (羊肉泡馍 ), a broth type dish that has noodles, mutton and broth in the bowl and then you. Add crumbling bread to it. I'm more of a bacon sandwich or porridge man for breakfast but I tried it all the same. Turns out it was delicious and at 3 Yuan each, or a ridiculous  30p, I had no complaints.

My attempts to raise Sean before 9am were pointless. The lad was out. In the process, I woke his roommate Tom up who hails from Kent, England just like me. Once the team was assembled like a bad Avengers movie, the four of us headed to the train station to catch a bus to the army site.

After a cheeky beer, we headed in and marvelled at some extraordinary craftsmanship and sheer scale of the Terracotta Army. It was broken into three sites, and thanks to Lonely Planet, we did them in reverse order, from smallest to largest and boy was it worth it.

We joked about a domino effect, knocking one soldier over and watching them all go but I think that would have been too extreme. I am still trying to figure out how they did it without a mould. It's ludicrous. Definitely one site worth visiting if you ever make it to China.

We came back and were convinced by a local who had befriended Sean to go to an all you can eat restaurant. It was evident we had made a serious mistake when we realised the beer was warm, you had to cook your own meat and their were pissed Chinese men everywhere. Oh and a serving of China's finest spew greeted me on entrance to the bathroom.

When we returned back to hostel, Tom bid us goodnight for his onward journey the next morning whilst Sean, Clinton and I enjoyed a few more beers and had a long talk (details have been omitted to maintain dignity).

Just before we left, a chap from Taiwan came in to buy us a Glenfidditch each. A nice way to round off another great day in China!