We went down the night before and stayed in the holiday inn express on the outskirts of the city as we needed to make sure we got to the museum early (their special exhibit pre-sale tickets were sold out and only released 500 tickets a day on a first come - first served basis). The tube stop was right behind the hotel so we managed to get to the gates around 8:15 (the museum opened at 10, with tickets starting to be sold at 9:30), there was already about 60-80 people there, and by 9 the line was around the block!
We got our tickets and only had about a 20 minute wait before we could see the Chinese exhibit in the amazing 'reading room' - unfortunately for preservation purposes there was no photography - but take it from me, the terracotta pieces on display were breath-taking.
We are now both desperate to go and see the full army in China! No two of the soldiers are alike and the bigger models like the horses are so intricate and still have some preserved color its amazing!
After the exhibit we walked around some of the museum - we made it around about half of the rooms before heading home. I have included a couple of pics - but if you come visit you should go yourself to see how brilliant the whole place is!! LOL
