Xi'an

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Flew from ChongQing to Xian, and whilst the flying maybe quicker, the novelty of chinse airports has def worn off- nothing to do for 2 hours, followed by nothing to do on a plane for an hour! Arrived in to Xian fine, and amazed by the central location of the hostel- right on the corner of the Bell Tower, in the centre of the walled city! However, The Bell Tower Hostel is definitely the shittest we have had so far, quaint run down is ok, this place is a dump- sorry "lonely Planet" wat were you thinking! After 2 nights at the smokiest bar and shitty dorm we moved to a hostel by the south gate of city - amazing and cheap with nice staff and cool bar. Got out for a wander as soon as possible, and the old town is pretty amazing! Walk round the City Wall, through the Muslim Quarter, to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower- all impressive, but overpriced!

on our 3rd day in Xian we decide to head out to the Terracotta Warriors- have met lots of people who said go for it, make your own way there, its easy and cheaper than the tours! so we ask at the hostel where to get the bus (306-if any ones going!) get on the side of the road they say and the bus heads off in the opposite direction to the station where we need to change for the 603! 40mins later- out of town we get dumped at a bus depo!! anyway, once heading back the right way we get to the station fine! An hours bus journey for 2 yuan- not bad!! The station is hectic- it looks like a refuge shelter!! mass exodus at the end of Spring Festival!!

The terracotta Warriors themselves are an impressive site! Set out in the low lands between the river and the Li mountains, (river rich in gold ores, and mountains rich in Jade= good Fengshui apparently) the whole undertaking of creating this army for the afterlife seems pretty epic, especially to a western mentality of death being the end! The Emperor took with him all worldly good, Black Jade, his Army (with soldiers,generals,officers, archers, horses and Chariots all induvidaully modeled) as well as his favourite 1000 concubines!!

The food in China is still treating us pretty well. The food is fresher, spicer and more full of flavour than any chinese food we have had in the UK (although some menus, without pictures are pretty much off limits) we have had some great food, and even Steak this week! Trying lots of Local things too, made beef Dumplings at the Hostel, and had some great Sushi again! Pretty fed up of the Chinese Beer tho! Although no one seems to have any idea what wine is- ordering some in a restaurant just lead to blank looks!

Hired Bikes today and headed off im search of the Start of the Silk Road! Hoping for more luck than the wild goose chase that was our search for the "Big Wild Goose Pagoda" Tourist Maps are NOT to scale! after and hours wander, we realised we were about a 3rd of the way there so headed back to the "Small Wild Goose Pagoda" Crazy Expensive to go to a park with a pagoda so gave up our Wild Goose Chase and went home!!
We found the start of the Silk Road quite easily, bikes are definitely the best way around any city!!
Booked on to the Sleeper Train to Beijing tonight, had to get the 'soft sleeper' as the cheaper 'hard sleeper' was sold out- the name 'hard sleeper' kinda put me off anyway!

Tom and Na

Visited Countries Map

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Comments

[Fawkes]

Hi my angels!
sounds like you're having a brill time! Give it a go; the hard sleepers aren't that bad and really interesting people wise! some bloke took a photo of me on one, cracks me up! .... now. at the time i was in a right pissy!