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Hello everyone!
Well we've had another action packed couple of days. On Tuesday we visited the Great Wall and completed a 15km trek (in the boiling hot sun!) in about 4 hours! We didn't realise it was going to be such a difficult walk, up very steep mountain paths and near vertical sections of the wall! The views at 500 meters were pretty breath-taking. At points we were balancing on ledges about 30cm wide, with a sheer drop either side! It was the most amazing thing we have ever done and felt a real sence of achievment once we had completed it. At times I thought I was going to have to carry Shona for most of the way, and this was only 15 minutes into the walk! (It was really really hot by the way people, at 12.30, which is peak hotness - Shona. Craig was very supportive and helped me get through this (by carrying my water pack as well as his own), and at one point i did enquire how much it would be to get a helicopter to come and get me!!). We also had lunch with one of the local farmers, who had randomly got a fridge on top of the mountain and was making a killing selling cold drinks! But overall it was well worth the effort. We then spent the night in a nice little hostel at the base of the wall, where we witnessed a local fight (with chairs n'all), and also a small but very poisonus scorpion in our guides bed!
The next day we planned on taking a very early trip (6.30am!) up another section of the wall, but were halted and shouted at by a group of soldiers who said we couldn't go up untill 8.00am. Our plan was to watch the sunrise over the mountain, but as it was already light by this time, we just decided to go half way and take a death defying, rust ridden zip-line called the flying fox from one side of the mountain, over a lake to the other side. It was pretty awesome, and it was all before 9.30 in the morning! We then got a bus back to Beijing where we prepared for our 14 hour train journey to Xi'an.
This was also an experience, as we had to share a tiny cabin filled with 6 bunk beds, with 4 strange Chinese men. But once the rice wine started being passed around, everyone became very friendly!
On Wednesday we took a bicycle ride around the city wall of Xi'an, with some of our fellow expeditioners. All of the buildings on the outskirts of the city looked quite scummy, so we ended up just having a race and doing "wheelies" around the whole thing which took us about 90 mins. In the evening our guide (Toffler) took us to a backstreet greaseball restaurant for a "hotpot". This is where you choose a bunch of skewers, most of which we had no idea what they were, and dunked them in a boiling pot of broth (water with other peoples left-overs floating inside!) until you think they're cooked (pretty dodgy huh?). Luckily none of us were ill, and this has proved to be the worst dinner we've had, although Toffler is normally very good at ordering us a delicious banquet.
Yeterday we visited the Terricotta Warriors and had a guide show us round and explain the history behind them which was very interesting. It was an amazing site to see 6,000 life sized models all in battle formation, each with a different expression and haircut! We got to see some of the higher ranking officers up close, and the detail on each soldier was quite unbelievable. Alot of the site is still uncovered, and alot of the statues were trashed by some angry guy on a horse about 1500 years ago!
In the evening everyone had a Chinese massage, which I'm told was both painfull and relaxing (if that's possible!). We then went out and had another lovely meal in a local diner, which was both clean, and free of peoples left-overs! So we were all happy. We then went out on the raz to a few local clubs, but most of the music (and dancing) sucked, so we ended up shooting some pool and drinking some bevies in a cosy little hostel (the beer costs about 10p a pint!). Today we visited the bell tower in the middle of Xi'an and also the drum tower where we saw a selection of ancient drums, and a pretty good demonstration.
Tonight we have a 18 hour train journey to Shanghai, so we must go and stock up on noodles!
That's all to report for now, so untill next time you crazy kids, stay classy!
Love to you all xxxxxx
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