Day 3: Xian , Tuesday 23rd September 2025
“Ring the Bell” - Bell Tower and Drum Tower
24°, rain, clearing to fine
NZ$1 = Y4
Y1=NZ$0.25
Up at 6:15am, downstairs for breakfast at the hotel at 7am ( the usual bacon, eggs, sausages + noodles etc ). Back to the room at 7:30am, then got ready and down to arrange a Didi at 7:40am to head to the Terracotta Warriors. Didi is the equivalent of Uber, and works the same way; pick a destination and a pick up point, select the type of vehicle and it connects with a driver. There is a Didi app for the phone but it also has a mini app within the Alipay app which makes payments etc easier. The apps also have a chat / message system for communicating with e driver and it automatically translates the messages. One slight difference to other systems is that the price quoted before being picked up is a guide price only, and few times on this trip the price we paid was a little bit more than the initial price ( often because of tolls etc ).
The Didi arrived at 7:50am but we had to walk out to the road to find him as he couldn’t access the hotel carpark. We drove north through the old city then out through the North Gate of the city wall. Traffic was busy but once we were outside the old city we got on to a freeway and headed east. We arrived at the entrance to the Terracotta Warriors complex at 9am. The Didi cost Y106/NZ$25 for the 1 hour 10 minute ride.
We walked through entry area, avoiding the queues for tickets ( we had already bought ticket on line through a site called Get Your Guide for Y420/NZ$107 ). It wasn’t too busy which is why we had arrived early ( it opens at 8:30am ) but there were lots of offers of guides etc. We bought tickets to catch the golf cart from the entry area to the Terrcotta Warrior site itself ( which would have been a 15 minutes walk ) for Y5 each.
It seems to be common at attractions like this in China to have an area for tickets and entry, then a distance to the attraction itself, presumably to avoid traffic / parking encroaching on the attraction, but it also means when leaving the attraction there is a lot of space to put shops etc.
Jumped on the golf carts ( electric vehicles that seat about 20 people ) and it took us up the slight hill to the main entry gates in about 5 minutes.
Joined the ‘queue’ for the main entry gates at 9:15. The Chinese people idea of a queue is more like crowd rather than a single line, but it was reasonably orderly and not too much pushing. The tickets we had bought were stored against our passports so we just had our passports scanned and we were in ( locals all have an ID card which they scanned for entry ). The passport system works so easily because all the apps ( Alipay, Didi, Get You Guide etc ) have you passport number stored in them so it is a completely ticketless system for most things.
It also means China is aware at all times where you are and what you are doing, but as a tourist we think that is a good thing to be able to be found if anything goes wrong, but some people may see it as intrusive.
After passing through the gate line we grabbed an audio guide ( a little device with headphones which has information in English, but is also gps tracked ( yeah, ‘they’ know where are ) so it only plays the information tracks when you reach the relevant point in the complex so you can go at your own pace ). The audio guide was Y288 for 2 ( NZ$70 ) but that included a deposit of Y206/$50 for the device, so only Y80/NZ$20 for 2 guides. The audio guide was really good, but as always it was hard to remember all the information it gave.
A brief bit about the layout of the site; there are 3 main ‘pits’ located in separate buildings close to each other where they have uncovered warriors. Pit 1 is the main pit with the bulk of the warriors, with Pit 2 and 3 being smaller buildings with less statues in them. There is also an exhibition building and a museum to explore and some food outlets ( although most of the food area is outside the main site, located between the main area and the entry point/carpark…more on that later ).
We had read various ideas about how to approach the pits ( some people recommend starting with the smaller pits then go to Pit 1 last ) but we just headed to Pit 1 to get in before the crowds arrived later in the morning. Note: this day is when we discovered that Chinese people generally don’t get up early, so the best time to go to any attraction/site was before 11am as it would be much quieter.
Walked across to Pit 1 and walked inside.
It is hard to explain the feeling when you walk through the entry lobby and then into the main part of the Pit 1 building; it is impossible to take it all in due to the size of the building, and the number of statues and size of the excavations. And it was immediately busy and crowded. The best view of the warriors was immediately as you enter the pit area so of course there was a crowd of people in that area. We managed to work our way to the railing overlooking the pit, and stayed there for as long as we could to take it all in and get photos. We slowly inched our way along the railing to get better views of the warriors.
This was also an introduction to the Chinese concept of personal space ( there is none ) and the mix of being slightly aggressive in their pushiness but also their curtesy and helpfulness. For example in the midst of the pushing and shoving to get close to railings I had tour guide for a bus tour of locals, whilst in the middle of her explanation to her clients, point me to a gap in the crowd where I could get to the railings, which she didn't have to do.
We stayed pinned ( at times we were literally pinned in place by the crowd behind us ) for about 1/2 hour. Luckily most people were on a timeline and had to keep moving so by being patient we managed to move to various spots. After seeing the view from the front of the pit we moved on to the side of the pit and moved to the back of the building where the restoration of the warriors is still taking place.
A piece of information from guide was that when the warriors were first uncovered they were painted in bright colours, but being exposed to the air has caused the paint to disintegrate and leave what we now know to be the image of the warriors.
The warriors in Pit 1 are formed up in a battle formation with soldiers, archers, and chariots ( which were made of wood so have long gone ) with horses, and they are formed in individual trenches with earth barriers between the lines of warriors.
We left Pit 1 at 10:20am and back out into the fresh air. It was raining a bit at this stage ( it had been drizzling most of the morning ) so we headed for Pit 2 which was just a short walk away.
( note: most of the photos in the section below are were shot as black and white )
We walked through Pit 3 ( a smaller pit with officers in it which were arranged as if they were having meetings and planning the battle ) . This building is quite small and crowded but easy to look down into the pit.
Out of Pit 3 and then into Pit 2, which is larger than Pit 3, but has a lot of work being done still and not many warriors were visible. There were also some warriors displayed in glass cases so you could get a close up look at them ( until now all the warriors have been at least 3 metres away in the bottom of a pit ). In the pit were small movable ‘buildings’ in which the staff were busy excavating and repairing the warriors. Obviously Pit 2 and 3 were less impressive than Pit 1 but still very interesting and impressive.
Out of Pit 2 at 10:50am, and we went to one of the gift shops. We bought bronze terracotta figure ( Y69) and then to café next door for early lunch and sat under the sun shades / rain shades. We had cheese and egg wraps and drinks, Y40. Rested for a bit in the peace quite for a bit as the rain stopped and the sun came out.
Went back to the ticket gates at 11:30am, returned audio guides ( Y206 was automatically refunded through Alipay ), then the long slow walk back down through the food outlets and gift shops to the entrance area. This area of food outlets and shops is the size of a small town, and includes such Chinese brands as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks etc, as well as shops selling fruit, souvenirs, Biang Biang noodles ( with the obligatory man making the noodles on a table ). The walk down through this area was made slower by the choice of paving tiles which for some reason were like walking on ice in places, especially with the left over rain on them.
We arrived back at the entrance area and carpark at 12, ordered a Didi to take us back into town ( Y96 ). Back on the freeway and into town. We were heading to the Xian Railway Station where we had come in the day before as I wanted to get some photos of the station ( I photographed every station building on the trip as they are pretty impressive buildings ). We arrived 12:50pm after being taken completely through a carpark basement area when the driver got lost/confused. We walked around the north plaza of the station. Immediately to the north of the station buildings was Danfeng Gate part of Danfeng Palace / Park. We headed down and onto the metro back to the hotel ( we stopped at a Family Mart for snacks/second lunch on the way (Y50)). Each metro station in Xian has a little unique symbol that represents the stop.
We rested for a bit then out for a walk around the local shops at 3:30pm. Liz was keen to head to a Decathlon store ( Decathlon is a sports good store with branches all over the world including Europe and a lot of Asia ) so we found the ‘nearest’ one ( on the 2nd Ring Rd ), jumped on the metro and headed outside the city walls. We took Line 6 west and south 5 stops to Xibeigongyedaxue ( Northwest Polytech ), up to the street level then a 15min walk in the sunshine along a busy road, passed mainly residential areas. We found the store and Liz bought a light top ( Y80 ), then back to metro ( bought 2 bottles of drinks on the way for Y6 ) and arrived back at the hotel at 5pm.
Headed out at 6pm to shoot photos of the Bell Tower at sunset. We had seen a spot earlier that allowed a view of the tower from a raised balcony so we headed there. Again we became the centre of attention for the crowds hanging around because we looked different and we had set up cameras on tripods. There were many people openly watching us to see what were doing, and we even had people looking around the back of the cameras from a few inches away to see what we were getting ( no personal space issues here! )
We saw for the first time something we would see for the rest of the trip, with different variations depending on where we were in the country; young ladies/girls getting dressed in traditional costumes and have professional photos taken, often in front of landmarks like the Bell Tower. In the plaza in front of us there would have been 30 photographers with their clients and others who were offering their services. These photographers appeared to be linked to shops which hire out these costumes/offer hair and makeup, so it seems too be a package deal to get dressed up and photographed.
After getting our shots we went back to the hotel to drop off our gear at 7:15pm, then walked up Beida St to a food court we had seen earlier and had dumplings for tea ( again the nice lady selling dumplings brought them over to us when ready ( she just yelled at the locals when theirs were ready ) and made sure we had chopsticks, sauces etc.) for Y38, and grabbed a big 500ml bottle of beer for Y6. After that we tried some Shou Fu Lei ( a pancake stack ) Y20.
Walked back to the hotel at 8:15, with sore feet and tired legs.
Overall a great day, with a bucket list item ticked off by seeing the Terracotta Warriors.
Zoomable Map ( pin is located on the Terracotta Warriors )