Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence - Terracotta Warriers

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Hey y'all

The night train to Xian for us was quite a good experience, we pretty much slept the whole night and as there was no one else sharing the carriage there was no awkwardness! Arriving there we met ‘Tom’ who was a taxi driver / tour guy. He took us to the hotel for free if we agreed for him to take us to the Terracotta Warriors and a few other places along the way. I know we vowed only a few days before never to take a tour again but as usual that seemed to go out the window!

He came back for us at 10:30am after we had settled into the apartment (which was luxury) and had showers. It was a pretty long and expensive day as Tom seemed keen to get us to as many attractions as possible (I think these guys get commission for taking you there). We ended up seeing some more temples, a tomb, cable car ride and lastly, what we originally wanted to see - the Terracotta Warriors. It was amazing to see exactly where they had been uncovered and read a bit of the history behind it! Legend has it that the army of Terracotta figures had been instructed by Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China who believed that he would continue his reign of power in the afterlife.

At night, Iain and Anja dropped by the hotel as they had already been in Xian for a few days and were staying for an extra day so we managed to catch up. Went to the Muslim quarter of the city where there were loads of street stalls making all sorts of strange and spicy food. We got flatbreads stuffed with our choice of meat and veg and spiced up - very nice! Russell also tried what looked like a plate of spicy cubed potatos but turned out to be cubed gelatine - boak! He has been quite adventurous with his food so quite impressed, although the gelatine was just a bit too far!!

The next (and last day) in Xian we took it easy, had a long lie and took a walk around the centre. I was initially pretty disappointed with Xian as I had pictured it to be a nice picturesque type town inside the walled centre but it is actually just another major city that is noisy and polluted. It did have some amazing markets and if I only had a spare truck to take it all home for me, then I could have gone to town. Afraid that’s gonna be the frustrating part of the trip. We already bought two pictures in Beijing so that was our limit!

Got our bags packed up at night and tried to even the weight out since I think we are allowed less on domestic flights and watched Hancock and No Mercy on HBO (excellent channel).

All in, China has been an excellent experience with mostly highs but some lows, which I can mention since we have now left (police coming to our bedroom at midnight to search our bags the 2nd night there, the ten day camel trip to get back to the hotel after the police shut off all the roads for the 60th celebrations and the appalling tour guide to the Ming Tombs). Completely different culture to what we are used to, which was great to experience. Would be nice to visit some more remote parts in the future.

4am start to get to Hong Kong the next day so earlyish bed - although was pretty excited about heading there so took a while - Hong Kong here we come - Yeah!!

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Comments

[daddy & mummy]

photos
looks creepy, is that the pics finished, hope not! keep them coming! xxxx