Anyone recommend A ride with a guide ?

Well, we have gone ahead and cancelled our prebooked tour of Xian which would have been in a big group and will be opting for a more personal tour.

So we are in Xian for 3 nights (2 days), and therfore would be looking to take an early ride out to the Terracotta Army - any suggestions for a guide who could aid us who has some English language skills and also how much roughly should we be paying ?

Anyone recommend A ride with a guide ?

Xian, an ugly, dirty city surrounded by coal burners, was one of the highlights of our trip to China, thanks to our guide Clarence Guo (clarenceguo@yahoo.com). Clarence%26#39;s english is terrific and he is extremely knowledgeable about the sites. He set up our visit to the Tang Dynasty Show and dumpling dinner, and bought a birthday cake for our 14 year old daughter; took us to see the terra cotta warriors; and, in a rare example of actually visiting some place not on a tour, took the five of us to see the cave dwellers.

The caves are amazing. Set into a clay hillside, the caves have two rooms – a bedroom/kitchen and a storage room. Cooking is done in a clay hut next door and the toilets are down the hill, gathered together. Each family has its own toilet, since the waste is used for their farm plot. The caves have rudimentary electricity and radio. The gate swings open to let their car enter!!

There are caves on two sides of an enormous kiln, which is used to bake bricks made from the clay. Coal is shoveled in from the top, a clay door is put up, and when the bricks are done, the door is broken, and the bricks removed. Bricks are then put on a cart, which is wheeled out to the brick yard by the laborers pulling the cart behind them.

IWe brought chocolates for the children, and small gifts from the hotel for the adults - tooth brushes, toothpaste, etc.

We ate lunch at a little restaurant outside Xian, and had what seemed to be a delicious, authentically Chinese lunch. If you have the time, do not miss this! day with Clarence. It is a rare chance to see a part of China that most tourists never see.