Xi'an was one of the stops on my China vacation. I did not have a guide and I was not in a group.

I visited the Bell Tower and Drum Tower and saw the performances inside both towers; the shows inside these towers were great!! I saw a street market while I was at the Drum Tower and walked through it. I also ate some of the food there too (the highlight)!

I had wanted to visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. I knew the bus I needed to take but when I found the bus stop; I did not see a route map so I did not know the direction of travel. Furthermore, fare information was not posted (I had researched the bus to take to the pagoda, but did not anticipate the challenges I just mentioned). What was posted on the bus stop sign was Chinese characters and I could not figure out if the correct way to read them was left to right or top to bottom. I gave up on the bus and decided to walk to the pagoda; that did not work out. I ended up taking a taxi back to my hotel never having made it to the pagoda. Going to the pagoda must have not been in the cards.

I had heard about the Tang Dynasty show. However, when I tried to buy tickets through the show website, the order for some reason was not processed. I did send an email and received a reply, the solution they gave me was to simply reply to the email with information (I was unwilling to do that). I was also unwilling to try to use the website a second time. I also could not find the location where the show is performed on any map. Again, it was just not in the cards.

I almost missed seeing the Terracotta Army because I initially could not find where the 306 busses depart from the train station. Staff at my hotel had told me to go to the train station. When I got there, I did not see the 306 buses. I walked around the blocks without successfully finding the right bus. I was giving up when I walked right up to the group of 306 busses. To find the 306 buses, go toward the train station entrance and then make a right turn at the arch in the city wall. I was unaware of making that right turn when I arrived at the train station and that is why I had difficulty finding the 306.

When I got back into Xi'an from the Warriors, I explored the Great Mosque of Xi'an, this is an interesting place. I then walked through the nearby street market again and ate some more food. I did not have any adverse effects from eating food from this market.

Even though I encountered some minor challenges, I enjoyed my time in Xi'an.