After successfully purchasing our first train tickets in China (via an "International Ticket Office, so our Chinese language skills weren't greatly challenged), we set off on a 12 hour overnight train journey to Xi'an. This was actually a more comfortable experience than we had imagined, after dealing with the initial stress of finding the corre...

We had to get a train back to Quingdao and then fly on to Xi'an as the trains were majorly busy - no availability until 5th September. The flight did mean that we cut our trip down from 17 hours (train) to an hour and a half flight so we weren't so upset at the extra expense of flying! Managed to get quite a luxurious hotel room for a similar pr...

Mel here! So here we are in Xi'an, China. This is where the Silk Road was said to have started, and already we see a difference in the architecture, the people, and the feeling of the place compared to Beijing. Ian, in his haste to finish the blog and get out of the last internet cafe before he was drawn in to the WoW being played on numerous PC...

Xi'an,Ancient Capital of China Hi everyone, I am writhing the Xi'an section after we left Xi'an. The overnight train was about 13 hours. We had dinner on the train and met some Dutch people. Mimi helped them order dinner. It was interesting to meet them. They were spending 3 weeks in China and have just spent their first 4 days in Beijing. We ar...

Ahhh, Xi'an. This city of more than six million has become one of China's most visited tourist spots; so much so that some people urged me to skip it. While some of its more famous sights are indeed a little over-done and touristy, I quite enjoyed my brief stay there and wished I could have stuck around a little longer. Significantly south of Be...

ew. up at 5.30 am cos the lights 2 inches frommy nose came on. had a cuppa and sat on a flip down seat in the corridor outside our cabin. had scoresof chinese men walkpast to get to the (rather fancy and a total surprise) three basins next to the loo. they all semed to have slept in baggy long johns.saggy and amusing from the back but when the c...

2 October 2006 Xi'an China, China, China...Where to begin describing this insanity? It's everything I expected, and nothing like I expected. It IS the Great Wall, red lanterns, and little white cups of green tea. It IS Communist government censureship, more consumer goods for sale than anywhere else in the world, and cities of 10 million people ...

Thinking I'd done good and had got up early I was still rushing to the supermarket at the last minute to grab some supplies for the train journey after Idan & Lihi had already been. Although food is served on the train the look of the gelatinous pans of rice and meat that cruise up and down the train every so often really don't look too appetizi...

Xi'an, capital of dynastic China for more than two millenni. Over a dozen dynasties rose and fell here and it is one of China's major tourist attractions. It is also a drab hole full of characterless offices and government buildings, expensive shopping centres and yet more banks. We walked into the centre of the city and were dismayed by the lac...

I've spent nearly four hours in this i-cafe here in the historical and archaeological capitol of China, Xi'an. Why am I wasting the precious little time I have sitting in the dark, surrounded by Chinese chain smoking and spitting on the floor? Sox win, Sox win! I bought the mlb.com World Series package and just watched game 2. Bobby Jenks and Sc...