Hello again. It is now Tuesday afternoon and I am sat in an internet cafe on the main street in Xi'an. I have a busy bee in the last few days so i will keep things short. Tiannamen Square was amazing, a few tourists but not too busy. It is vast and beautiful yet the smog in the city detracts a little from this. Leading on from Tiannamen Square is the forbidden city. It was the size and elegance of this place which shocked me. Considering it has been featured in numerous films the placeis definitely overwhelming and a culture shock. The three year old emporer who lived there had many concubines. He selected new ones each year. By the time he died he had approx 20,000 b****es who lived with him. All the other men had thier bits chopped off completely to avoid unpure offspring. As many were too poor the doctor performed this operation for free. Very nice of him. Yet thier culture demands that people be buried whole in order to pass to the next life. Therefore the doctor would sell the mens bits back to them (pickled in jars) before they died. The price of this would often equate to a whole lifes work. OUCH! In the evening we ventured into the night food markets where I tasted octopus and scorpion!!! The scorpion was a bit like crispy bacon but personally I wouldnt recommend it (the legs and its stinger put me off somewhat). Sunday was a relaxed one. A quick tour of the hutons (not sure of the spelling!). The locals gave us a lift on thier bikes, through the old, very poor part of town. Not an impressive site at all. Tiny, grotty houses with a strong scent of urine and faeces!! Sunday night was spent an an overnight sleeper train to Xi'an. The station was like something out of a James Bond movie (From Russia with love). The train had twenty carriages, each of which had at least sixty beds each. There were six beds per compartment ( three high) with little room to spare. I got to know my fellow travellers very well yet fortunately none of them snored!. I arrived in Xi'an on Monday morning and had a meander around the city. I managed to find the pick-pocketers quite easily as they are hopeless! It is another huge city so the only way to see it all is by bike - my butt is hurting today (Tuesday). There is a lot of history, gorgeously restored pagodas,yet it is over-ridden by slums when you get out of the tourist area. The night was finished off with kebabs from the local foodmarket - again an experience which you wil undrstand when I show you the photo's. Today (Tuesday) we spent the morning at the Terracotta Warriors. AMAZING!!!! Then as our hangovers kicked in from the very large bottles of beer (640ml for 15p) we all caved in and went to KFC. Not traditional Chinese yet there was an elementof culture there. The food was served with salad in a bowl instead of chips, orange juice instead of pepsi and Hoi Sin sauce in the tower burgers. I won on the scratch cards. My prize- a bowl of mashed potato with gravy - YUM!?! Anyway, imoff to get an early night. I hope to wake up at sunrise to perform Tai Chi with the locals in the city centre. I will probably wear my pyjamas to fit in! Miss ya all. Becky x x P.S. The weather- a bit smoggy but an average of 20 degrees for the last few days. I did see a terrential rainstorm in Sri Lanke minutes before I boarded the plane. Big droplets - it makes Englands storms look like drizzle!