CHINA 2019 - GUILIN TO XI'AN

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DAY 7 - An early start today for our flight to Xi'an, home town of our guide, Grace. We arrived and began with a tour of Xi'an City Wall. Xi'an is the ancient capital of China and the wall was required to protect the inner city residents. A moat is being reconstructed around the wall. Our hotel for tonight is amazing, LanXi International Hotel, can't complain about the level of service here. After dinner we jumped on our coach for a nighlights tour of Xi'an, including a stroll through the pedestrian mall. As it is a very important weekend here, Memorial Public Holiday, all the women, from young ages around 13 or so up to late 20's, dress in national costumes and are very proud of doing so. A massive light display throughout the streets of Xi'an is really something else.

DAY 8 - Another early start for what must be one of the major highlights of this tour - a visit to the Terracotta Warriors & Museum. A 2 hour drive had us at the Museum where we were shown how the Warriors were made and of course....the gift shop, full of 'Warrior' memorabilia for the tourists. We also saw handmade furniture (also for sale), so we made a few purchases here. Then lunch followed at the restaurant at the Terracotta Warriors site. Now onto the main course, 3 hours at the 3 Pits, which contain various stages of Terracotta Warrior discovery. Awesome is probably the best I can describe Pit #1, which has the most 'warriors'. They were made in sections, a hollow body first, then separate hollow head was attached, arms, and separate hands finished them off. Not many are complete, most have some form of damage and nearly all of them have been rebuilt to some degree. Work continues on the dig and also restoration. Pit #2 is the smallest and doesn't contain many warriors, Pit #3 is sized between 1 & 2, and contains mostly damaged warriors & horses. This is one of the must see wonders of China, it is mindblowing to say the least.

Leaving the Warriors saw us head to Little Goose Pagoda, where we had a calligraphy lesson followed by a walk around the gardens. Off to a traditional dumpling dinner, serving over 20 different styles and flavours, magnificent indeed! Now it was time for the Tang Dynasty Dance Show, this included an traditional Chinese orchestra and dancers, telling the story of the only female Emperor of the Tang period. Amazing costumes, lighting & music really made this yet another highlight.

DAY 9 - Yes folks, yet another early start for our trip on a VFT or HST, known as the bullet train, but the Chinese do not like this title, so its a Very Fast Train or High Speed Train, traveling at 306 kpm for 4.5 hour journey with 2 stops along the way. Arriving in Beijing around 2.10pm we headed straight for the Temple of Heaven, a combination of traditional Chinese gardens, a free peoples park where the locals folks exercise, play cards, sing and enjoy the peace of the park. Onto the Temple of Heaven temple, a magnificent structure a

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