Waiting at Beijing west train station is not the place to need the loo, especially if you think the suspicious meat you have recently eaten may want to exit quite quickly... i ventured to 3 rest rooms within the station and no cubicles had doors that locked, it's one thing hovering over a hole in the ground it's another to multi task by hovering and aiming as best you can whilst straining to make sure the door stays shut... i decided i wasn't yet that desperate and headed for some ice lemon tea - yummmm. We headed to Xi'an on soft sleeper, very cozy - 2 bunk beds in a cabin that locked complete with duvet and pillows. We had the upper two and an elderly couple with a boy of about 3 or 4 with them. At about 6am i awoke to the little boy running around switching lights on and off and on again, radio on and off, door open and closed and open and closed. He was into everything. I must have slept quite well as i found this highly entertaining, perhaps a very small side of me was waiting to see if this would end in tears.

On arriving in Xi'an (8am) it was all hustle and bustle and i held my breathe for a barrage of people trying to sell us things and take us places but it wasn't like that at all, a few people came to us to advertise their hostel but once we had told them we had some where booked they left us alone. The hostel we had booked was charging us 25CNY each a night for a bed in a 4 bed dorm - that's about 2.50 pounds a night ( there is no sterling sign on this key board). Once booked in at our hostel we took in a wander of the city, there was much more character then Beijing and it was HOT!! 38-40C. We visited a bird market that at first we thought maybe was just the name of a market as we didnt see any birds for a while. The market lined winding side streets and forked off in many directions selling all sorts from fancy sun umbrellas to horrible smelly eggs. We stumbelled upon the birds and other animals by chance - cramped or small cages of sparrows, black birds, pigeons, chickens, finches, budgies, cockatiels. Some birds were in the open on perches but when you looked closer you could tell they were chained to the perch and couldn't really go that far. There were also turtles, fish, snakes, rabbits, guinea pigs... i wasn't sure if this market was for human food or for pets. I thought about buying some birds so i could release them but i didnt think they would be able to survive on their own.

The following day we headed for the terracotta warriors, in our group of 4 was a guy from Dorset and a guy from Santiago. The warriors were about an hours drive out of the city and so Jiajia (Zsa-zsa) our guide told us all about the warriors, the city and herself and then tested us and decided we should listen harder - she was great. The warriors were good but not as i imagined, i had imagined that we would be at their level when in fact you look down into to excavated trenches where they reside. Non the less it was still impressive. At the end there was the farmer who first discovered the warriors sat at a table ready to sign books, he looked like he was asleep but i suppose if i had been sat there for the last 40 years i might be the same.

That night we headed with the guys from our tour and 2 other ladies to the big goose pagoda for the light fountain display, it was very busy and so we stood at the far end from the pagoda but next to the last set of fountains. At 9pm the music and the fountains began, hundreds of them, spraying and kinda moving in time to the music, it was fantastic and it was free!! The really big fountain nearest us got caught by the breeze and suddenly it were being heavily rained down on so the crowd ran for cover, the people closer to the pagoda must have been drenched as there was no quick escape for them.

Moving back to one of my favourite topics - toilets... At the Xi'an train station Andrew was in similar predicament as i was at the Beijing train station but unfortunately for Andrew the conditions were much worse - no need to worry about a cubicle door that won't lockwhen there are no cubicles just many holes in the ground, just find a good looking hole with no one already on it and go for you life!! I'm still laughing now but i'm sure that will come back to bite me.

We are now in Chengdu via another over night sleeper. Chengdu is in the Sichuan province and the food is hot! By randomly pointing at things on a menu we ended up with a fish hotpot that must have contained the biggest boniest fish with fins and all attached. Andy was brave and tried the fish head... i couldn't do it. I think we will try to avoid fish hotpot from now on..

I have just realised writing this blog that there is a big cockroach sat on the floor next to me....