Xi'an and Hangzhou


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July 2nd 2010
Published: July 2nd 2010
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Terracotta Warriors

So it's our second day in Hangzhou today...yesterday we arrived from Xi'an on a 24 hour train journey! It wasn't as bad as I(T) thought it would be, the one from Beijing to Xi'an was worse as we arrived at Xian at 5.30am in the morning so we pretty much went straight to bed once we got to the hostel! The 24hour one at least enabled us to get a proper night's sleep.
So what have we done since the last entry?! We went to see the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an which was really good...we had a guide who gave us the history of them which was pretty amazing...the emperor who got them built was Qin Shi Huang..he became emperor at 13, and was the same emperor who got the Great Wall built!

Xi'an, other than the Terracotta warriors, was just a city really, although it is one of the few cities which still has an old wall around the centre of it. We went cycling on it one of the days, which was fun, apart from that we were only allowed to keep the bikes for 100mins and so for the last few km of the wall we
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Terracotta Warriors
had to up the pace or we'd be charged for being overtime. The people in the city were pretty much all young people; there are 4 Universities there. The girls were all dressed really well even just to go shopping, i felt a bit underdressed even walking around the shops in my shorts and walking sandals! And even more self conscious when people would literally stare at us, and not even try to be subtle about taking our photo...I don't think i'm used to that yet!
Some people are more brave, they ask if they can speak to us in English, one group of 3 teenage girls we literally just met on the street wanted to show us around and get our email addresses to keep in contact!

The Muslim quarter was really cool, with markets all along the streets, we got some of the best food here!
We also went to a 'disco' there, which we came across totally by chance...it was really good fun!! We were the special guests, being the only Westerners in the place. There were dancers on stage, really cool lighting, bubbles were blown from the ceiling, all Western music, some of the guys dancing were really funny! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us which was really cool.

So, Hangzhou! We arrived here yesterday so today was really our first day here...it seems hotter here than in Xian, maybe 33 or 34degrees. I started carrying my umbrella today, which may sound strange, but nobody in China wears sunscreen, they just use umbrellas!!
The main attraction in Hangzhou is a big lake, which we walked around today, and to the top of a padoga where there were cool views of the lake and city.

That's about it so far, in summary...the people are so nice, really helpful, really generous even though many of them don't have alot. Looking out the train window on the way to here from Xian, I saw lots of people on their hands and knees working in the fields, with no tools, no tractors, just maybe a trowel. On a building site, I counted 16 people on the roof of a house(not a big one!)
The food is alright...well we've found some really nice food in places you wouldn't expect, like in the markets on the side of the street, or in what looks like someone's kitchen!!
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Muslim Quarter
I haven't tried scorpion or beatles or anything dodgy yet, but I do want to at some stage so watch this space!!

Therese










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Us with our bikes on the Wall in Xi'an
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Bell Tower
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Terracotta Warriors (replicas!)
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Traffic jam in the Muslim Quarter
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Outside the Pagoda


2nd July 2010

where are the photos?
This is strange. In your list of entries, I can tell you posted pictures. But once I click to read the full entry, no pics! A bug? Anyway, thanks for sharing. Enjoyed reading your blog. Cheers!
2nd July 2010

Hi Therese, just checking in, glad to see you are having a ball and not missing us at all. The pics look great. brings it all back. Be careful about being too adventurous on trying the local delicacies!! Sun us shining here and thank crunchie it's Friday S

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