Geo: 33.9184, 108.719Hua shan is one of the things you have to do in Xi'an. The city's most famous and spectacular scenery. Unfortunately it involves an almost deadly climb. When The Lonely Planet describes something as 'fairly strenuous' and 'bottleneck sections can be dangerous,' one does become slightly dubious as to whether or not it's a good idea to confront the 6km climb and reach the 2160m high peak! However, it was only a matter of time until as 'Overseas Leader' I would have to give it a go! My chance came when a rather unbearable photographer man was sent to visit and take photos by i-to-i. He evidently thought photos of the current i-to-i group climbing one of the world's most impressive mountains would make much more impressive photos than the usual i-to-i volunteer activities ... read more

Geo: 33.9184, 108.719This time I got a guided tour from Nicky, one of our volunteers working at the museum and was able to get much more out of the trip than just the initial wow factor. I didn't realise there are 6000 warriors in total, most of which had been uncovered and then covered up again to protect them before they are taken to the warrior hospital where all the thousands of warrior jigsaw pieces are put back together. I also got to hear of the Maesoleum and the stories surrounding it i.e. Rivers of Mercury. All is yet to be excavated! The Chinese see no rush and don't want foreign help. It's exciting to think what else may be down there. In the future (when they eventually get round to excavating!) the Terracotta Warriors may ... read more

Geo: 33.9184, 108.719I never expected China to have one of these - a Safari Park! Made a great day trip and again was surrounded by stunning mountain scenery. The actual 'safari' wasn't particuarly memorable. Chinese driving hasn't quite adapted to being slow enough to allow you to see the animals! However, we retraced our steps by foot and got to see quite a lot. Had to walk out of the dancing bear and monkey performance much to the dismay of the Chinese who were loving every minute of the animal cruelty! Kind of defeated the purpose of a safari park but they're getting there I suppose! Less throwing stones at the animals than the last time i visited a Chinese zoo! Sometimes Kullie and I felt we were the ones in the cage with everyone starring ... read more

Geo: 33.7535, 108.916One day, searching the internet on a seemingly hopeless and never-ending frantic job search (one of many!), I saw an advertisement for a panda conservation project. I couldn't help but click on the link. The project of course looked amazing but well out of my budget (the none existant one I keep going into!) I decided if I could find the address of the panda centre I could just arrange to go there by myself and whilst leafing through the website to find such information I stumbled upon the i-to-i jobs page. There I saw the ad for 'Overseas leader.' I was on a down concerning jobs and very fed up of writing application letter after application letter only to never hear from people. However I thought why not and quickly typed a very ... read more

Geo: -25.7419, 28.1877No comment! Kind of an anti-climax!... read more