Mercure On Renmin Square Xian Xi'an

... see them all intact!

After lunch we went to the Wild Goose pagoda, I started to feel a bit sorry for the guide as there was limited interest as we all had seen so many Buddhist temples on this trip, when she said how long did we need to look around, a couple of even the most well mannered people in the group said 10 minutes. But we spent an hour or so there, it was a sunny afternoon so we sauntered around the buildings and had some ice cream ...

... dirty, even the cars had dust all over them. We are not sure yet if it is only dust or whether it is mixed with polution. I feel it is a mixture of both. But the trip in did not give anyone a good impression of this city, it looked depressing. Especially the visitors from America who have not been here before this was so different from Beijing. Other than the dirt and smog this was very similar to Kunming with the ...

... too early to get in our room so we just checked our luggage and started our day of sight-seeing.

We took a bus to our first stop: Hua Qing which is a hot spring area that the love story of the Emperor Xuanzong and his famous and favorite concubine Yang Guifei. Hua Qing is a beautiful area where hot springs still run at the temperature of 43 degrees celcius. It is located on a mountainside and has ...

... vendors before we returned to the parking lot. We were not bothered too much. Bill had to pay 10 yuan for a Coke though.

We found the 306 bus and were able to leave right away. It was another 14 yuan to return to the train station. On the way back I had some crackers to tide me over.

When we got back to the station Bill took some photos of the North Wall. I picked up a beef pita from the Muslims on the way. It was OK, but not as good as the one I had in Chengdu ...

... stands 12meters high, it is12-14 meters wide on the top, 15-18 meters thick at the bottom and 13 kilometers in length. The city wall was first built of earth, rammed layer upon layer. The base layer was made of earth, quicklime, and glutinous rice extract, tempered together. It made the wall strong and firm. Thus, the Ming Dynasty city wall formed a complex and well-organized system of defense. http://chinatours365.com/xianpanel.htm We were getting VERY hot and I was ...

... work here. the culture is absolutely different. i would love to see what happens at a playground here. i have come to understand the cultural difference of lining up, waiting your turn, etc to every man for himself. i have even come to understand the need to clear one's sinuses in cities like beijing. i have come to understand the differences in driving and the pushy sales people. in all, i have learned alot with the exception of the few things that would make it integrate into my ...

... make us buy stuff, and then FINALLY made it to the Terracotta Warriors which were everything we thought they would be. One piece of advice for anyone who is going: see the pits in the reverse order. Pit 1 is the largest, and Pit the smallest so see Pit 3, then 2, then 1 to get the full effect. During the mandatory stop at the gift shop, I thought I was blocking someone's shot so apologised and moved back, but the lady kept pointing her camera at me. I kept moving back ...

... Ja, er hing een toffe sfeer. We deelden onze kamer met twee Italiaanse meisjes Frederica en Laura, die we hadden leren kennen op de trein. Het leken wel twee hobbits! Nee nee, niet van uiterlijk, ze waren groter dan 1m10 en hadden geen haar op hun voeten. Maar ze dachten wel de hele dag aan eten! Zo konden ze een uur voor een restaurant blijven staan om te zien wat er uit de keuken kwam, de namen ervan te vragen en op te schrijven om dan s'avonds die gerechten te gaan ...