Ade Home Xi'an

... carrement avec nous quand on prend la pose... Pas le choix des avoir avec nous sur la photo et nous serons sur plein de photos en Chine!

Les Chinois sont tres sympathiques et ca na rien a voir avec lInde pour la proprete et les toilettes. Cest tres surprenant comme cest propre et en plus il ny a pas de madame pipi pour demander de largent.

Aujourdhui, on est alle voir les soldats de terracotta du premier empereur de Chine. Cet ...

... right to us and we didn’t see any busses with the number we needed. So instead we went around town to the Giant Goose Pagoda (known also as the Giant White Pagoda and a few others). You never would have guessed, but it was…HUGE…The park area around the pagoda was really nice. There were fountains and interesting statues/ designs in the park. This is where Mom found her jade necklace and bracelet. (After talking ...

Yesterday, I arrived in Xi'an. In Shanghai, it was quite heavily raining, and I was even happy to use my rain jacket and rain protection for the back pack. Otherwise, it would have been so useless taking them all the way to China. In fact, as always it seems, I took too many things with me. But that's another story. Xi'an is world ...

... and will not be buying any souveniers. The next stop was to the Banpo Museum or archaeological site. The site is housed in a massive huge building built in the 70's. It was first discovered in 1953 and located in the Yellow River Valley just east of Xi'an. It contains the remains of several well organised Neolithic settlements dating from approximately 4500 BCE. It is a large area of sixty square kilometers and surrounded by a ditch, probably a defensive moat, five or six ...

... take us back to the train station where we were to catch another bus to the TCW. However, we must have caught the first bus going the wrong way because we kept getting further and further from the train stations so ended up getting off and taking a cab anyway. Arrived at the train station- found the bus to the Terra Cotta Warriors and we were off! I had always wanted to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, not totally sure why, but it was some place ...

... this is the impression I got from my guide) a column of warriors underneath a wooden structure to preserve them. As you head for the back of Pit 1, you can see the restoration in process. So far they have found and restored over 2,000 warriors. Over 20 of them have gone to various museums and schools in the US, and I saw that you could actually purchase a genuine warrior from the store. Pit 1 was definitely the ...

... and I made a quick dash to the toilet to layer up. I jumped on a bus outside the airport that dropped everyone off outside the Melody Hotel in the centre of Downtown Xi'an. As soon as I stepped off the bus an English speaking Chinese lady dragged me into the hotel's tourist information room and before I knew it I had been signed up for 2 nights at a nearby hotel and a tour for the following morning! 30 minutes later I was finally at my destination at the May First Hotel. My ...

... a day later, probably never to return. But back to Mum and Dad: we had a very good shopping effort that first day, all finding something to purchase. Mum wanted to see the Silk Markets as a few people had told her how famous it was, and I agreed that you have to go see them as a tourist but it personally my least favourite place to shop. And as it happens, in Mum's only other visit to Beijing many years ago, she went to the Government building that is at the end of ...

... out across the walls and city. Was great to see. After circumnavigating the old town on the wall we descended into some markets and spent the next couple of hours working out what we might buy next to send home and meandering back to the hostel. Got back at about 8.30pm and were both shattered, not surprising considering how much we crammed into the day. Booked tour to Terracotta Warriors departing the next day. Up early and ready for our ...

... to trust I'm heading in the right direction. Relieved, I finally arrive with my pack, all my gear and myself to the train going to Xi'an. Our 6 bed train compartment was to the left as you walk through the train. Narrow bunks opened perpendicular to the sides of the train, 3 on each side open to the air (no doors, not even curtains) with just enough room raise your head to get out of bed and NO more. I forget that most Chinese are indeed a good deal shorter than Westerners, so ...