Arriving in Xi'an

Hello again everyone! As a quick thought, for some reason Steve and I are unable to view our blog via the Chinese internet and so we are unable to read all of the comments you have left us at the moment! But we can keep on posting, so if anyone needed a response or anything to their comments, then send us an e-mail instead, otherwise we'll have to wait until we're goodness-knows-where before we can access the blog fully again (although should be accessible in thailand - so keep sending us your comments, it'll mean we have something extra to look forward to)!

MONDAY 9th April

Well, after we finished blogging to you all, we had a rather interesting time to say the least! We grabbed a taxi from near the hostel to take us to the West Beijing Railway Station, so we did a lovely job of pointing to the correct place (on no less than 2 different maps on several occasions), but we still ended up at the Central Beijing Railway Station - a half an hour drive away from where we wanted to be!! Luckily we had an absolute tonne of time to spare and so were able to grab a second taxi, which managed to take us to the correct West Railway Station! We had been a bit worried we wouldn't know where to go to catch the train, but we managed to work out where to go all on our own - pretty impressive really! However, we had the unfortunate task of needing the loo whilst waiting to be able to board the train and they were the most disgusting toilets we've ever come across - we won't go into any sorded details! However, things started to look up, one of the attendants came over to look at our tickets, as we think they noticed us looking very sheepish and they signalled for us to go through to the train. It was really good once on board, the compartment was really pleasant, although the beds were as stiff as wooden boards and so I got quite bad back ache - Steve's just weird and found it comfy! But we were soon on our way trundling along to Xi'an.

TUESDAY 10th April

When we woke up in the morning we were just outside Xi'an and soon after were pulling into the station and having to heave our huge back packs back on! We kept our eyes peeled for someone meeting us from the new hostel (Lu Dao) and soon saw a piece of paper being wafted around with our name on. We were able to walk to the hostel from the train station as it wasn't far at all and the person from the hostel was very pleasant and chatty. Well, when we arrived at the hostel our jaws almost hit the floor, as compared to the Feiying youth hostel in Beijing, this was a complete lap of luxury! So despite being pretty tired, we were very happy. Once we were settled in and showered, we decided to pop back to the train station to book our return tickets to Beijing, which we managed to do, although we have standard soft sleeper compartment this time not an executive one, so we'll have to share with 2 other people and use a shared bathroom. Once we got the tickets we went for a wander and finally decided to go to the Eight Immortals Temple, we weren't even half way and had been walking for ages, so decided to get a taxi the rest of the way! The Temple was nice, although I felt a little out of place, as it's an active Temple and there were lots of people there praying etc. It was also quite a small place and so we were soon finished and decided to head towards the main centre of Xi'an to grab some lunch. We're not entirely sure what we had, it was a mixture of different stir-fried meats and vegetables we think and some plain rice - Steve managed to chuck laods of the sauce down himslef while we were trying to find somewhere to sit and eat! After eating we headed off to the Bell Tower and then after that the Drum Tower. They were quite cool, in the Imperial style of the Ming Dynasty and they had dispalys on inside about the history of Ancient Chinese music etc. They weren't the most interesting of attractions we've seen, as they are so similar to everything we've seen in Beijing, but it was nice to get out in Xi'an - even if the heat was stifling and unbearable today! After the Towers we ended up going on an expedition to find some tights (for some reason a commidity very difficult to come across and very expensive when you do), as my walking trousers make my legs very sore and so I can't wear them directly next to my skin - I have been wearing leggings underneath, but it's just murder in this kind of heat! After what felt like many hours of searching, we finally came across some and I managed to purchase a couple and for what they cost, they'd better last me at least for the rest of the trip (but I bet they'll be wrecked in a week or so)!! We needed to cool down after this and grabbed a couple of ice-creams and then grabbed another taxi back to the hostel.

We've been chilling out for a little while, checking our budget and forming a plan of attack so to speak. We've got ourselves booked on a trip which will take us to the Terracotta Warriers, Hua Quing Hot Spring and Banpo Neolithic Village, which is tomorrow. All our transport is organised and we'll have an English speaking guide - yipee no worrying about taxis and public transport on the manic streets of China for us!

Still feeling homesick I'm afraid, but trying to keep my spirits up - I know I should be looking forward to the rest of the trip! Mum and dad, I'll give you a call tonight or tomorrow (although it will be lunchtime for you) - looking forward to hearing your voices again!

Well, we think that's it - think this is a fairly short one for once - you lucky lot! Missing you all still and hope your all well, we're off to dinner now, bye!