Cycling the City Walls of Xi'an, China

I knew precisely zero about Xi'an, the city closest to the Terracotta Warriors, before arriving there. With some basic research, I realised there were two things I needed to experience: the Muslim Quarter for dinner, and the surrounding city walls.

Dinner in Xi'an Muslim Quarter, China

Xi'an was an unplanned part of my Chinese itinerary, but as I'd been to Beijing before it seemed to make more sense to head there for a few days before leaving for Seoul and visit the Terracotta Warriors. I wasn't sure what else the city had to offer aside from being the gateway to the famous world heritage site, but a bit of guide book snooping made it clear that eating at the Muslim Quarter was top of the list.

Visiting the Incredible Terracotta Army, China

Let's get this out of the way up front: Terracotta Army, bucket list, once in a lifetime blah blah. You'll have heard all those cliches before when it comes to one of the world's most famous manmade wonders. I was skeptical about visiting but I was damn curious, and although it wasn't on my original itinerary, I decided to make a detour to Xi'an and drop in on those infamous soldiers.

A Bad Pollution Day in China

The whole thing about China being covered in smog always seemed like a bit of a fabrication to me. Sure, it's a huge country with an insane amount of people, but the air couldn't be much different to rush hour in London. When I went to Beijing in 2014, I saw how the sky could be grey and the sun looked smudged out on a couple of days, but aside from that we had beautiful blue sky.