The train station in Beijing was a story in itself. It was huge and packed - probably 99% Chinese and then us, who were apparently the show for the other waiting passengers! Why not, we had two hours to kill - let's entertain the locals! Firstly, there was a gorgeous little lad, probably about 4 years old, with his parents, playing ball right beside us. He decided that I was to be his play mate and we some how managed to communicate with the usual smiles, signing and a few token Mandarin and English words exchanged (Thank You - Xiexie etc). This game of catch went on for probably about an hour and it was fun. The little guy went from being shy and probably wondering what us white guys were to clambering all over me! I found myself quite attached to him actually and was a little sad to say goodbye - what a soppy sod, I know! Meanwhile, our tour leader, Jami, had started a card game with a couple of the others from the group and a huge crowd of about 20 locals surrounded them and joined in the game - we were certainly the centre of attention by then and hopefully gave everyone something to smile at!

The train itself was ok actually. Alot smaller than I'd thought, with sets of 6 bunks, three high along one side of the aisle and a very narrow walkway along side it. The beds were all open, no doors separating the sleeping area at all! The rest of the train seemed to be full of Chinese guys in suits, who also found us pretty amusing, nothing new there then! James was on the top bunk, so he went to sleep fairly early, as did some of the others on the high bunks, as there's not really much space to socialise, with only two chairs per six beds! I chatted to some of the guys, had a beer and caught up on my diary and hit the sack about 11. It was hard to get to sleep to start with, but actually quite soothing after a while, with the gentle rocking of the train. I think we both slept pretty well, all in all, which is lucky as we've got four more of these hard sleepers before we get to Hong Kong - this country is huge!

We arrived at our hotel in Xian at about 8.30 and then after a quick orientation from our guide, we dropped some laundry at a local hostel and then with the two English lads (John and Mark) we decided to get stuck into the sightseeing. We braved another local bus to the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, which sits within the grounds of the Da Ci'en Temple. It was a lovely place actually, with really pretty gardens and not too many people around (like there was at the Forbidden City), so we could wander around at our own leisure a bit more. It had a great atmosphere too with some chilled music playing in the background. I could have walked around here for hours, but there was plenty more to see, so we paid to climb the Pagoda itself, which is 7 storeys (when it was originally built in 652 it was 5, then another 5 were added in 703 and a later fire reduced it to the current 7). The view was ok from the top, but the inside was a bit of a let down, as it had been modernised and there wasn't really anything to see apart from laminate flooring - shame really.

After this we got the bus back to the city centre and checked out the more local sights - The Bell Tower (a 36 metre high tower dating back to 1384 which marks the centre of town), The Drum Tower (Similar to the Bell Tower, but smaller) and the Muslim Quarter, where we miandered down the Islamic Street to check out the markets and food stalls - some very interesting sights and undescribable snacks!! It was a really charming place though and is home to the city's Hui community, retaining much of it's original character I'd imagine. We had a beer after this, down a street with lots of bars and restaurants, before heading back to the hotel where we freshened up and then met up with the rest of the group for dinner.

The meal we had with the group was ok, but these Chinese banquet meals are getting a little repetitive already and we had our first unpleasant dish - chicken, but it was basically gristle and no meat - rank and unsurprisingly these plates were virtually untouched! Afterwards Jami took us to just outside of the city wall (The city centre is surrounded by it's ancient rectangular wall, with a circumference of 14km) where there was a kind of street show going on - locals playing the drums and loads of them dancing, with fans and various other props. It was a fantastic atmosphere and some tourists even joined in - Mum you'd have been up there! We just decided to watch this time, although James was tapping his feet to the beat like he wanted to get up there! ;-)

The next day we paid a local guide to take us all to see the Terracotta Warriors, which if you don't know is one of the worlds most significant archaeological discoveries and attracts 2 million tourists to Xian every year. This was amazing to see in real life, and something else that photos and TV just don't do justice! The only bad thing about the day was that it was absolutely chucking it down, and as the day before had been really sunny we were in short trousers, flip flops and vests / t.shirts. Luckily we had an umbrella, otherwise we'd have been soaked! Being dressed like this meant that we got even more stares than normal!! It had been a pretty long day once we got back to the hotel so we just chilled out for the evening ready for an early start today!

This morning we left the hotel at 8.30 and went to visit the City Wall, where we hired a tandem and cycled the whole way round. A great physical start to the day and pretty funny riding a tandem! The sights were ok, but it was pretty smoggy (or foggy as the locals like to refer to it) so we could only see so much, plus we were determined to finish in record time, so didn't have too many photo stops!

Overall we've preferred it here in Xian to Beijing, as it seems a little less manic, plus it's easier to get involved with things and see everything. It's also alot greener than Beijing, there's even trees lining some of the streets, which seems a pretty big thing after the capital!

Now we've checked out of our room and have about 6 hours to kill before we head to the station for our next hard sleeper train to Shanghai . . . . .