Shangri-La Golden Flower, Xian Xi'an

... poissons, noix etc) y etait servi. Il y en avait au pigeon, shark fin (aileron de requin), abalone et toutes sortes d'autres viandes et legumes exotiques. Nous y avons rencontre un couple de francais/suisse tres gentils qui vivent en Bourgogne. <br><br>La temperature se tient autour des 25 degres avec un smog presque permanent, comme a Beijing.<br><br>A l'auberge, il y avait un chien golden retreiver et un beau petit chat appele ...

... mounds of un-excavated earth. There was one more gallery that we eventually found, with a few more pieces that could be viewed up close, which was fascinating. We also found the connecting bus back into town that we had been promised! On reaching the north end of town we found out why we could not catch the bus on the way there: the end point for this bus was about 1km away from where we had disembarked the other, perhaps displaced by ...

... shoes (I really don't like that). A security lady wanted to take off my bracelets before I went through, but she could not undo one and waved me through in disgust. We were both manhandled by another female security guard and set free.<br> <br> I was looking around for snacks and water, but could not find any water and they did not have a very wide/good selection of snacks. The only things available are cup o'noodles, jerky, cream filled pastries, Dove chocolates ...

... were built to protect the soldiers from falling off. At 7PM I arrived at a theater for the best dinner of the trip. It started with dumplings and chicken, followed by soup, and then deliciously battered shrimp and then pork and rice. For dessert were great tasting Chinese cookies. At 8:30PM in the theater I ...

... door on our cabin meaning I could only see half the view and didn't get to see people and staff (selling everything from food to wind up torches to DVD players) walking up and down the carriage but I guess they had paid extra for soft sleeper and were getting their money's worth (as opposed to hard sleeper where you have six beds stacked up and no door). At one point some people who spoke some English got on our carriage (I was the only western person I saw ...

... that it would only cost me an extra 160RMB to get a flight from Xi'an to Kunming the following morning. Sweet! I would be in Kunming 24 hours earlier and I could sleep in a bed at a hostel in Xi'an tonight. So I saw a couple more attractions in Xi'an. The Bell Tower and the wall that surrounds the city (it's 18 meters thick and must be 20 meters high) were both amazing. Now I am going to get some beers and get some sleep. Flying to Kunming in the morning.

Die Fahrt nach Xi'An haette ich nicht ueberlebt, wenn Elke nicht dieses tolle Buch dabei gehabt haette. Das ich dann waehrend der naechtlichen Zugfahrt durchgelesen habe. 479 Seiten. Das sollte erklaeren, wie die Schlafbedingungen waren. Nicht nur unangenehm, weil wir Hard Seat hatten (Sitzplatz im Grossraumabteil, vorbei mit dem komfortablen Liegeplaetzen, seufz!), sondern auch wegen der Fuelle an Chinesen, die dichtgedraengt im gesamten Abteil ...