Arrived Xi'an

Hi all!

Well last night was certainly an experience. The train had cabins of six beds - three high on each side! Brenton and I were in a compartment with an older woman who snored like a freight train and a dad with his two young boys. They were hilarious but loud! They had great difficulty climbing up to the top bunk and once they got to the top I clapped and said "well done!" They kept repeating it back to me and saying their other three English phrases - "oh my goodness", "wow" and "hello!"

Surprisingly I actually got a fair amount of sleep and only woke up twice in the night, the second of which was to people noisily jabbering away at 5.42am. I glared at them and motioned to shhhh and they were ok after that. 

We pulled into Xi'an at about 9.45am and got a public bus to our hotel. To our delight our rooms were ready and our hotel is really lovely so we all had showers and refreshed ourselves. 

Then we set off on a walking tour. We passed the bell tower which is 600 years old and whose bell used to toll to wake up those living inside the city walls. Then we saw the drum tower and Muslim Street. Xi'an has 8 million residents and 10% of them are Chinese Muslims. This quarter was full of life - sights, sounds, smells and tastes going on everywhere!!

We had a delicious lunch in a local restaurant and then went to the Great Mosque - a 1300 year old mosque and one of China's largest. It was built whilst Xi'an was the capital of China. 

Unlike other mosques, here they are far more lenient on dress code so our bare shoulders and knees were fine. Thankfully today was clouded over so it was hot but not unbearable. 

We had some free time during which I had an icy pole with kiwi fruit frozen inside it. I looked in some cute shops and just took in my surroundings. When I got back to meet our tour group, Ashling and Jack were talking to some Chinese girls. Travelling in China as a pale westerner is a bit like being a second rate celebrity. Everyone stares, some people take really obvious photos of you and occasionally some will pluck up the courage to ask for one with you. Once one does - they all do!! The next five minutes were spent taking lots of photos with these girls and some other passers by. We had fun, laughed with them and got into it. Everyone here is so friendly and even though it might seem weird to us, I guess they just haven't really seen westerners before!

Next we went to the city wall. It's about 15km long and still surrounds the entire centre of Xi'an. We hired bikes and spent the next little while riding the track of the walls. The bikes weren't great which made navigating the bumpy path a bit difficult, but we had fun anyway. It was an interesting contrast having the old city walls and then the skyscrapers all in the background. I loved the red lanterns that lined the path. 

Now I'm back in the room. I'm pretty tired and am meeting some of the others in the lobby in about half an hour. About six of us aren't going to the optional cultural show tonight but are instead going to wander and see what we can see. 

Another overnight train awaits tomorrow so again - if no post, you know why!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox