He walked in the room and after taking one look at him I knew. I didn’t know him, but I knew all I needed to know. He looked pretty respectable, nicely groomed and ready to spend an evening traveling. I took one look at him and I knew…I knew he would snore.

And I was right.

In our ongoing efforts to tackle all aspects of travel, T and I decided our trip to Xi’an would be the perfect introduction into the world of overnight train travel. Following this decision we quickly found ourselves on the overnight train from Shanghai to Xi’an with The Snorer and a nice younger man who works in solar energy and was eager to practice is english skills (he didn’t snore). You see, the soft beds on this particular train were in cars which accommodated two sets of bunk beds. The perfect set up for maximal hilarity and awkwardness.

The verdict: Minus the snoring guy hitting on me in Chinese  while my husband looked on while the other guy sharing our car watched in horror and blushed…not so bad.

Slight sleep deprivation aside,  Xi’an was quite fun.

While there we took the bus outside of the city to see the terracotta warriors.

No, they aren’t all broken.

In fact, they are amazing.

Discovered by a farmer digging a well a few years back, the warriors are all different and were originally created by a king years back to protect him in the afterlife. Years onward, they are quite a site to take in as they are being gradually reassembled and are on display for all to see. Zealots can even pay to take a photo with the farmer who discovered them…at least it might be the farmer, it could also be his third cousin who just wants to make a buck as I doubt anyone would know the difference.

What is perhaps most fascinating about them is the fact that they are all different. Each has a different hairstyle or facial expression..

It seems as if they were each painted at one time as some retain small traces of paint which you can see if you look closely.

After a not so brief search/barter marathon, we managed to secure T his “treasures” of choice from the small souvenir area before making our way back to Xi’an on the public bus (45 minutes for $1USD!).

Make no mistake though…we weren’t done with Xi’an yet.