Xi'an

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Day 1
We arrived in Xi'an at about 8am and transferred to the hotel without any fuss. Xi'an's traffic situation appeared similar to Beijing's; first in, best dressed. We scoffed breakfast (guess what? East bumps into West, with interesting results) and then headed out to the city wall. We caught the tail end of an acrobatic display and then hired bicycles for a 14km ride on the wall. Cycling around the city in the glorious sunshine, we were able to get a good look at Xi'an and stretch our legs after the train journey. By the end, however, our bottoms were sore from bumping up and down on the stones for 100 minutes. We had a little rest in the afternoon before a 'dinner and show' singing and dancing extravaganza. Dumplings and other tasty morsels kept arriving until I thought I'd burst. Eleanor loved it; elaborate and colourful costumes, sets and musical instruments. A leisurely stroll back to the hotel, an hour or so of serious Chinese television (no wacky game shows here) and we were about ready to go to sleep. Dean had to put on his teacher voice at one stage and tell a group of school kids to settle down. The kids are on our floor and the teachers are on the floor below. It's one big game of hide and seek for them. Halloween tomorrow - I hope they're not into trick or treating.

Day 2
Today's schedule saw us depart for the Terracotta Warriors at 9am. The local guide said it was a quiet day compared to the weekends, where 20-30,000 people visit. Still, there were quite a few buses in the parking lot when we arrived. The three pits are quite interesting, although I have to say, a little underwhelming. Dean called it 'the world's biggest jigsaw', Eleanor thought it was 'alright' and I felt like National Geographic had painted a rosier picture than what it actually is. We spent a few hours at the excavation sites and museum and gained an appreciation of the massive task that still lies ahead. At one point, someone behind us cleared his throat (a common noise in China) and then proceeded to spit on the floor (again, not unusual here). But what was unusual was that it was INSIDE the museum! As Eleanor said, "That's what you call gross."

Lunch was, as usual, a smorgasbord of way too much food. We ate in a local person's house and enjoyed food I've never seen in the Tai Wah in Mentone. Lots of vegetables, spices and flavours that you just don't equate with Chinese food in Melbourne. Absolutely delicious. We ate some locally grown fruit to finish the meal then we were back on the bus, speeding towards Xi'an.

A little siesta in the afternoon and then we were ready to tackle the markets in the Muslim quarter. Little alleys containing stalls basically selling the same items. Very little variety. So far on this trip, I've seen more Chinese stuff in the Mordialloc $2 store. We checked out the mosque, which was very serene and peaceful, and very un-mosque looking; it looks like a Chinese temple. After the call to prayer we went back into the market again for some tucker. We munched on corn, kebabs and sausage skewers flavoured with the same spices at each stall. We ended up purchasing a couple of little souvenirs but weren't fussed by what was on offer. We found our way back to the hotel and fell asleep (after another night's viewing of snooker) to the dulcet tones of the young German school children running up and down the corridor.

Day 3
This morning we had to meet our guide at 10 to drive to the airport for our flight to Guilin. I did a quick run to the post office where my parcel was wrapped so professionally the guy should be working for Myer at Christmas. After forking out 8 yuan for the compulsory packaging process, I managed to communicate in my best sign language that I wanted to send the parcel by sea. 73.5 yuan later, I had happily relieved myself of 1.4kg of bits and pieces that I don't need to be carrying around China. Yay!

The trip to the airport was uneventful but I'm still amazed that I haven't seen, let alone be involved in, any collisions. The strict security we encountered in the subway and railway systems in Beijing (scanning bags, walking through metal detectors), was ramped up a notch at the airport. The usual scanning of bags and metal detectors was there, but everybody had to be personally checked. Walking through the metal detectors was not enough. Everyone had to stand on a stool while being given a thorough examination. Dean remarked that if it had gone on for another few seconds, he would have had to take the security guard out for dinner. For a domestic flight, I felt they took it a bit too far, but it was hilarious watching Dean pull out one coin from every pocket and the lady pulling up his shirt!

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Photos

It may not look bumpy in the photo
But it was hard work after a while.

Our sleeper berth
On the train from Beijing to Xi'an .

Cycling on the wall
14 bumpy kilometres around Xi'an.

In terracotta warriors pit 1
An archaeologist's dream.

A small snack before dinner
In the Muslim quarter at Xi'an.

Pit 1
As Dean says, it's the world's largest jigsaw.