Xi'an

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Agh Really need to update!

I'm in our hotel in Yichang, which is where we will board our boat to cruise the Yangzte river and we're off to see the Three Gorges Damn tomorrow =)

We spent our last day in Shanghai visiting a beautiful Ming style garden and I went to a tea house and tried jasmine and other floral teas, served in tiny glass crucibles from a glass teapot which really showed off how fantastic the teas looked! they tasted amazing as well and I have bought a box of floral red and yellow tea =) Clare also bought a little trundle suitcase in the old quarter market (which promptly broke - twice) which she is finding much easier to carry than her holdall.

We left Shanghai via a 22 hour train journey to Xi'an in Shaanxi province which is our tour group leader's home town, I quite enjoyed being on the top bunk this time, Im beginning to think sleeper trains are the best possible way of getting about!

On arrival in Xi'an at about 5pm Louis walked us all up to the ancient city walls (Xi'an was the ancient capital of China from the time of the first emperor in around 200 BC to some time in the 18th century when it was moved to Beijing) and we took an hour long bike ride around the circular walls which was the most fantastic way to avoid the 60% humidity and just what we needed after such a long train journey.

The following morning we took a private bus to see the Terracotta Army of China's first emperor. It really did not disappoint! 8000 warriors of a variety of ranks, all with different hairstyles and facial features, lined up with their horses and weapons. The detail was absolutely incredible as was the shear scale of the site, another 3rd of which at least is still in the process of being excavated or is as yet undiscovered, the whole experience was utterly fascinating XD

In the afternoon Clare and I joined Lucy and Amy (from Edinburgh) at a shopping mall which was great entertainment given that so many of the clothes only cam in miniature sizes even Clare is an extra large!

That evening we went to a public park to see the most incredible light and fountain show in front of a beautiful pagoda. Given that I have seen light shows before I wasn't expecting much but the performance was on such a grand scale and was so pretty that I really enjoyed watching it.

Afterwards we went to a really great club and we're treated like mini-celebrities! Everybody wanted to dance with us and we kept having to run off the dance floor for fear of being kidnapped! It was a good fun though =D

We have spent 16 hours today (8am - 12am) on a sleeper train which has actually been quite good, plenty of time to snooze and chatter and given that we had beds, it was pretty comfortable. I'm currently sitting in our ridiculously nice hotel in Yichang, gutted to only be spending one night here as the room is lovely and the hotel restaurant serves cottage pie!

Anyway, off on the Yangtze Cruise tomorrow evening, so I'd best get some sleep.

Hope all is well at home

Cat xxx

P.S. ill upload much more photos later, internet connection is a wee bitty slow!

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