Shannxi Hotel Xian Xi'an

... at Shansou around midday and we thought we had the cabin to ourselves except along came 2 Chinese men and unfriendly they were not sharing the bottom bunks with us as seats so we were relegated to our top bunks for the rest of our 8 hour trip. Tricky eating perched on the top bunk I must say. Certainly the trip from Lhasa was less than ideal- the PA system didn’t work, the toilets were often locked, the heating erratic and no TV headsets like on the trip down to Tibet. At 8.30pm ...

... of you. The detail that went into each of the figures was amazing. Right down to the pattern on the soles of shoes. it was breathtaking to experience. The guy it was all built for decided that as soon as it was completed he would slay all the artists and then bury the whole thing. The site itself was a good few acres. Unbelievable..!!!

... another 40 minutes for the flight to arrive and finally got going around 21:50.
On a positive note, the Shannxi Provincial History Museum was great. With Chang'an/Xi'an being one of the four great ancient capitals of China, we were able to see the historical progression of the dyansties. Our hostel in Xi'an was also fantastic. We stayed at Shuyuan Youth Hostel just inside the south city wall of Xi'an. It is a ...

... jerky later.

We stood in line for the gate and when we were called to board people jumped in line ahead of us. A white guy in front of us did not like it either. We laughed and I said "I will never get used to that". He motioned to a couple of people and asked them to get to the back of the line.

Our lunch on the flight was chicken with rice or beef with noodles. It came with a bun and cold green veggies. I had tea and Bill had Coke. The ...

... rushing to the front to see what was going on... then the police turned up and the bus started to pull out of the station, around 3 hours after we got to the bus station!! The only information we could get out of anyone was that there was a disagreement between the bus owner and a passenger... so I guess we'll never know about that one!! On the plus side, we a man then came around and gave everyone on the bus 60 Yuan compensation for the delay ...

... ___________________ Xian City Walls: (I think this was from www.travelchina.com) One of only two cities with intact surrounding walls in China. Xian's has been restored and is wide enough to easily ride 5 bikes across. You can hire one at the top of the South gate. If you want to foot it though, a complete loop of the walls takes approximately 3 hours. The ...

Usually the first to arrive for breakfast was Mom and Dad, Jeff, Graham and Briana, plus some mix of kids. We enjoyed reading the English translated signs at the breakfast items such as Chicken Intestine (sausage) and Kidney Bean Bacon Cigarette Flesh (bacon and green beans). Despite the labels, the food was good and there was a good variety of foods from which to choose. Our day's tour started ...

... got an apprecative nod of the head as he walked past at the end. I left soon after. Tuesday 22nd April As I was being picked up for my tour at 9am I got up early to find somewhere to do my laundry as my hotel was charging extortionate prices to get it done there. After breakfast I headed back to my room to wait for my phonecall to tell me to come downstairs. The pick-up time on my ticket said 9-9.30 so when it got to 9.30 I went downstairs to check if anyone had come to look for ...

... life. The warriors were made in around 220bc and are all unique, so considerin that about 8000 have been discovered so far its pretty impressive. The fella had em made along with a massive underground mausoleum that took 40 years to build, its thought because he believed he would carry on in the afterlife as emperor and wud need protection for his kingdom. Apparently he was a bit of a ...

... I was a bit annoyed at being rushed, cos if it were up to our guide we'd have spent less time here than any of the other places... i had a bit of a go at her! :P It was an amazing place tho nevertheless, and we had a great time. We got back, had some dinner, then got ready for our night train to Chengdu. We just sat in the bar, and went to use the showers one at a time (since we'd already checked out before leaving for the terracotta ...