Hua'Ao Hotel Xi'an

First impresh of this huge city - pretty neg. So much pollution! Mish to find the government-relocated hostel, but upon arrival we were pleasantly surprised, not only was it a gorge hostel with cheapo rates, there was free tea and beer, plus very cute staff. Once again the twin room had two enormous double beds in (the rel little chinese must th...

J'avoue que j'étais un peu négatif la dernière fois envers la Chine et les chinois mais je dois maintenant reconnaître que c'est un pays qui s'apprécie avec la force du temps, même si personnellement je n'y partirai jamais en expatriation (message subliminal à mes chefs). Durant cette deuxième semaine je suis descendu vers Xi'an, au nord-ouest, ...

In the internet age, with video and photographs of virtually anything that interests you only a mouse click away, it sometimes seems possible to see so much of the world without leaving the comfort of your home; my World Concepts ESOL students, for example, used laptops to do a webquest of China when we studied Chinese history and even took a "v...

Hey Hey *nd * Big G'D*y toy*,

C*tching up.
Whilst we *re on the subject of c*tching up.

L*st Thursd*y Gu*ngxi Br*d *rrived in Xi*n *nd Frid*y evening we met *t the hostel for * few cold Jim Be*m *nd Col*s. We then re*lised th*t we *ctu*lly needed to sw*p to beer *s only then could we s*y th*t it h*s been *lmost three ...

Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya, Falling on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar Year, the Lantern Festival takes place under a full moon, and marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities. The entire city has gone mad! Everyone from the age of three to eighty three have all turned two and are running around the place throwing firecrackers...

We had a massive travel day to get to Xi'an: a six hour bus ride to Wuhan after we got off the boat to get to the airport then a 2 hour flight.  Erghh.  Xi'an is quite a big city and is the closest city to the Terracotta Warriors. We had fun riding bicycles around the city walls which turned out to be a bit longer than we had anticipated (about ...

Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya Let's talk about the drink Red Bull. Here I sit after laying awake for the last hour or so after trying to have an early night as tomorrow is my last free day. This obviously means that as of midnight tomorrow night the 2008 Beers N Noodles Summer adventure ends. So where does Red Bull come into this story? I was fe...

At the risk of sounding cliché, my first day in Xi'an has been a bit like a rollercoaster ride. Fellow amusement-park-lovers can empathize-emotions ranging from fear to excitement, up and down, over and over... My first venture was to simply get my bearings. The most daunting challenge is deciphering a language I cannot comprehend at all. Nearly...

We flew into Xi an on a very bumpy very scary flight from Lijiang. I do not enjoy these budget Asian airlines. Once we landed we had the evening to relax. Xi An is a very modern city and is rapidly expanding and growing. It seems to be the trend in many of the Chinese cities to tear down old buildings and replace them with modern ones. This city...

Xi'an is the ancient capital of China, it was a very close vote as to whether Beijing of Xi'an became the new capital of the Communist state...it is crammed full of historic sites, but we only had a few days. After a big breakfast on the 25th floor with great views over the city (if it wasn't for the smog !) we wandered off to see the ancient ci...