Took bus 306 from the train station to some of the tourist attraction in LinTong which is an hour away from Xian. First stop is to HuaQingChi (6 Yuan).

The place was once a favored place of holiday for emperors in Tang dynasty. Since it’s just another old residence, I decided not to go in.

Again took bus 306 to the site of Terracotta Warriors, BinMaYong.
Kneeling archer

The site was accidently discovered in 1974 by peasants digging well. QinShiHuang became emperor when he was just 13 and under his rule of just 36 years, he achieved much more than anyone else. He conquered 6 kingdoms in just 13 years, standardized measurements, currency and writings.

There are 3 pits storing the old artifacts and statue.
Pit 3

Pit 2

The first pit is the biggest one and has 6000 statues in it.

With Oscar and Ilenia, my dorm mates.

Bus 306 broke down on the way back,

Took bus 602 to Xian Jiao Tong university. Xian Jiao Tong university is pretty good for its engineering faculty.

Went to the train station to get a ticket to Wuhan for tomorrow. Today is the first day where passengers can buy the Zhengzhou-Xian bullet train. The train will start running on Feb 6th. Just few weeks ago the bullet train from Wuhan to Guangzhou was put into operation.
China has an amazing plan to build 13,000 km of high speed rail road. The country is going to spend one trillion USD to expand its railway network from 78,000 km to 110,000 km in 2012.

Article about High Speed rail in China.

China High Speed Railway Map

High speed railway Plan

The four north-south main lines:
1. Beijing – Shanghai 350 km/h
2. Beijing – Guangzhou – Hong Kong 350 km/h
3. Shanghai – Hangzhou – Shenzhen
4. Beijing – Shengyang – Harbin (branch Shengyang – Dalian) 350 km/h
The four east-west main lines:
5. Qingdao – Jinan – Shijiazhuang – Taiyuan 250 km/h
6. Xuzhou – Zhengzhou – Xian – Lanzhou 350 km/h
7. Shanghai – Nanjing -Wuhan – Chongqing – Chengdu 200 – 350 km/h
8. Shanghai – Hangzhou – Changsha – Kunming 350 km/h