Jiahua Business Hotel Xi'an

... Mrs. Petreikis and Mrs. McDaniel. I had told Abbie and Jean on the flight to Xi'an about the great guide we had and was thrilled when I saw him waiting for us in the airport. What an incredble coincidence! I hope Mrs. Petrekis and Mrs. McDaniel are reading our blog, because they L-O-V-E-D Lee. He knows lots about history and is so nice. Tomorrow we go to see the excavated pits of the Terra Cotta soldiers. Can't wait to tell you more. Good night from Xi'an

... br>Our plan was to go to the tomb of Emperor Jing Di on day one, followed by Terracotta Warriors on day two and so we set off on an adventure to northern Xi'an that first morning. We were told to get two buses to the site and after an hour reached the end of the first bus route, dropped off seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with just roadworks (of course!) and half finished apartment blocks to keep us company. After a walk, some ...

... until you hit the ground below. For those of you who like meters it is exactly 2087 meters below Or for those who like feet, you will fall 6846 feet, then splat. Now sit back and choose which side you'd prefer. Luo Wei had never been to Hua Shan and I guess if you climbed it at night you would honestly have no idea at all the situation you were in as you would only see a few feet to either side of you. Would I ...

... 1974. The emperor either had the soldiers burried there to either keep him safe or to take with him in the after life before he died. There were 3 pits one is being worked on now but one is almost completely excuvated. These soldeirs are life size and were painted. We are talking about thousands of them. It was one of my favorite things that I have seen thus far! Oh some people there took pictures of ...

... of bagged chicken. It was all very nice, but again I was too full to take advantage. They did have a ton of beer and that I did not decline. They even got off at one of the stops along the way to get more. Not sure how many we had to drink in all, but it was enough to get my roommates drunk and pass out. In fact the one drank a little too much and ended up needing the garbage pale in the middle of ...

... duty so to say! By this I mean that here in China everyone will help you in any way possible but to find those who will stand by you through the good times and the bad and really mean it is much harder than you can imagine. For those teachers who come here for six months to a year and then leave will find many friends, most of which will keep in touch but most have been there for the 'foreign friend' trophy ...

... of the World. The site is divided over three unearthed pits, 1 to 3, of which 1 is the biggest, and 3 the smallest. Not following the Lonely Planet's (aka The Bible) advice and visiting pit no. 2 first, I almost turned on my heels and left. The whole place was teeming with Chinese sightseeers, all pushing for a spot to stand at the edge of an otherwise empty pit to have their picture taken by a mass of fellow-sightseeers all holding their cameras (or, buddha ...

... A change for the better Chinese taxis drivers seem to have left their scamming days behind them. We noticed this in Beijing also. Yep, they pick you up and agree to bring you exactly where you want to go. No more stone-faced refusals and no more unnecessary detours. And they even turn on the meter. Bingo. · How old are you? All of the police officers or soldiers out here look positively 12 years old and to a man they look like they have ...

... making us offers for lunch. I had a couple of skewers, some flat bread, fried persimmons and a few dumplings. Miguel was more cautious, opting for a Maccas lunch afterwards. The group split in two, as some of us wanted to ride bikes around the city walls, whilst the rest wanted to shop til they dropped at the Muslim Quarter market area. The bikies: Murray, Jo, Jessie, Michael, Deb, Miguel and myself, walked to the Bell Tower and in a massive effort crossed ...

... that china is the 81st country that he has visited.. not bad seeing as there's 193 or something in total) so off we walked the 1.5km's to the warriors, past the pommie granite sellers, and the reproduction warrior figure kilns, and the sewing machine factories that lined the main street.. a disneyland marble clad monster of a site awaited us, the guidebook said reverse order is best, so pit 3 through to 1, with a small visit to see the cinema first to ...