Jialili Express Hotel (Gongyuan South Road) Xi'an

... less memorable ride.

Charlie: It was ok. The breakfast was good. We woke up a bit too early in the morning, but it was ok. When we got here everything was fine. We got to see fire works. We ate at different restaurants and found all the American fast foods like KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and had dinner at KFC and found the grocery store. The grocery store was normal we just got random stuff, but the yoghurt was good. I ...

... An to Beijing was the nicest I had taken in my travels… very clean with crisp white duvets and table cloths. I shared a car with 3 Chinese men… none of them spoke any English. I realized afterwards that I never felt the slightest bit uncomfortable, nervous or scared sharing a train cabin with 3 strange men… it never occurred to me to be worried and I was never given a reason to be concerned. I didn’t want to let a fear of ‘what if’ deter me from doing anything.

... and Outters BBQ Area. I must admit that when we took off for our Vietnam/China Border Beers N Noodles Adventure back in 2006 I was a little worried to begin with, I found myself thinking, bloody hell what if someone recognises him. The only trouble we did run into was the fact that he could barely understand anyone around him and they him so I had to play charades on many ...

... to take the jubilee and fireworks of July 4th, the food of Thanksgiving, and the family orientation and duration of Christmas and throw them all into one pot. Add in a dash of danger and a pinch of superstition. Stir it up, bring to boil, and you would have something very close to a Chinese New Year. Many workers are given time off over this holiday. Lots of restaurants and shops shut their doors. Even our classes were canceled for the week. We thought ...

... enjoying my new abercrombie jumper for 110Y bargained down from 400Y. They admittedly are taking the **** out of a western couple with some of their asking prices. There reaction to bargaining is hilarious "i give you good price'' " i give you good price" they love saying that armed with their calculator! You'll all be pleased to hear Giles is finally getting over his cold, it was touch and touch for a while... Much love, Gam and Siles xxx

... along with the Beatbox and it was an unusual and very entertaining site. Between the magic tricks, the free dumplings and the weird entertainment, we reckoned that this was one of the top hostels of the world. We stayed out partying in the bar with the other guests of the hostel well past the regular closing time; the staff was nice enough to keep the party going until it ended of natural causes. The next day we woke up a little later than normal and it ...

... Paese, primo fra tutte l'esercito di Terracotta: scoperto per caso da un contadino che stava scavando un pozzo per l'acqua, costruito per difendere la tomba dell'imperatore Qin Shi Huangdi, e composto da migliaia di soldati di terracotta originariamente scolpiti e dipinti nei minimi dettagli, e' uno di quei pochi posti che, pur essendo famosi in tutto il mondo, non lascia delusi. La sola vista del primo pozzo, il piu' grande, lascia senza ...

I head off to Xi'an today but not before a Junk boat tour that Della has organized. I get on the boat and see Kristin Kovner (another one of Lauren's friends from NYC) but realize that the two-hour tour I had been ready for was actually a six-hour booze cruise. Unfortunately, I have to graciously bow off the boat in order to make my flight and while I'm ...

... speak perfect English which was very cool, he worked in the "International shaolin liason office." We then went to 6 students and masters in a training hall messing about with their weapons and forms. It did not seem as disciplined as I expected, the only guy really doing anything was already a master, he was waving around his 5 kilo swords like they were paper. Wang Shifu back at the academy told us that they trained with swords up to 15 kilos each for strength so that ...

... times up to the Qing dynasty (which ended in 1911) and into modern times. Finally, before we could leave, we had to walk along the top of the city walls. Xi'an has the only intact extant city wall in China now, but originally all the major cities had such walls. The Xi'an walls have been heavily restored (a process which is still ongoing), the top of them has been turned into a promenade, so you can walk or cycle right the entire outskirts of the ...