Qin Da Hotel Xi'an

... well, but we were starving so headed out for
food...

I think I should add that I have now changed my destination. It is now
Shanghai. I don't know whether you have seen the weather on the way to
Beijing, but it is snow and quite cold. Not for me, thanks!

P.S. The Great Firewall of China has finally struck, and so this entry
is being uploaded remotely by the parentals. Hopefully they'll be able
to work out how to do it... (instructions were attached)

... people I've met which made the time we spent together a very memorable time for me and I actually can't wait until we can catch up again.

Before saying my usual Beers N Noodles toya, below is a small selection of why I should get out of my rice field more often, so read and enjoy a laugh at my expense.

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Me ...

... prenociscu doslej, ki govorijo sprejemljivo anglescino in medsebojna komunikacija ne predstavlja nepremostljivega problema. So pa upravitelji hostla prijetna sprememba glede odnosa do zivali, saj dobro rejeni Beagle zagotovo ne bo koncal na krozniku kot nekateri njegovi vrstniki v tej drzavi. Ravno nasprotno, obiskovalci hostla moramo spostovati celo vrsto napisanih pravil v prid njihovega ljubljencka. Tukaj je ocitno ta Beagle kar pravi kralj.

... reminded me a lot of a school cafeteria because you just seize whatever seats you can find at these really long tables that are set up inside and outside. I also had this sweet rice desert, which had sugar sprinkled on it, and bought some dried kiwis! All of the food was amazing. 3. Great Wild Goose Pagoda. The 20-minute fountain show at the pagoda at 8:30 every night is incredible; I felt like I was in Disney World. We were running late ...

... RMB a night for both of us) but decided to upgrade to a private room again. The total cost for our room for four nights is 430 RMB, less than half the cost of Leo Hostel in Beijing. Naturally the first thing we did once we arrived in our rooms was to have a shower. Once we were clean, and said hello to the dog and cat, we ventured out on to the streets of Xi'an. We stayed within the old "walled" city and found our way to the Muslim Quarter. The streets ...

... time. Now Youth Hostels are more expensive and sometimes much more expensive than hotels and the fact is most really don't care too much about helping your save money. Many even advertise this with a sign on the wall saying 'we are not a budget hostel'. But what they are good at now (and thankfully so), is organising things for you that most people could never orgainise themselves. Eg: Tours, train/bus ...

... espacio, terminando con los pies escondidos debajo del del banco enfrentado, y entre los pies de mi amiga china. (Considerese que esto no lo hice unicamente en beneficio personal, pero viendo como el bebe lloraba de cansancio y no tenia lugar para dormir salvando los brazos de sus papas que agotados dormitaban y con cada cabezazo despertaban al bebe genrando un llanto continuo, me ...

... Niin siita Terracotta armeijasta.. Toisena paivanamme etsimme kasiimme kuljetuksen ja matkasimme n.29 kilometria Xi'anista pohjoiseen katsastamaan taman Unescon suojeleman ihmeellisyyden. Yli 6000 savesta valettua taysikokoista sotilasta(joista yksikaan ei ollut toisensa kaltainen) vartioimassa edesmenneen keisarin hautaa. Sotilaat oli katketty maan alle josta ne sattumalta vasta n.30 vuotta ...

... be in Beijing at the time, you have to either (1) wait until you get to Xi'an and hope there are still tickets available if you stay in Xi'an is going to be short, (2) have a friend or someone to hook you up in Xian, and then they can get the tickets for you, or (3) use China Trip Advisers-CTA, a Chinese travel company that appears to have some sort of monopoly hold on buying train tickets on the internet. Option #1 was definitely out because we were only ...

... m incredibly impressed when I see people riding bikes with one or no hands on the handlebars). But, not believing that I was a bad bike rider, Chris convinced me that we should rent bikes. To make it even more interesting, we had to make it around the wall in 90 minutes...we would be charged an additional fee if we had the bikes out longer than that.

Because of the time limit, our ride ...