Hey Hey Ok so the adventure continues,we are now in Xi'an which used to be the capital of China in the Qui Dinisty period(2000ish years ago). The City is surrounded by a wall which we have just cycled around on Tandems...this was so cool, Me and Paul were on one, Matt and Claire another and Vimo and Armal on another. I have never read a tandem before and it was really funny. This city is not small either and we cycledall of it...Then had some noodlesmade for us from fresh...yum. Ok the final night in Beijing, was a killer. We saw the picked Chairman himself. Looked like a wax work to me...but for 30 years he has had his morsaleam in the Centre of Ti'anenmen Square. Millions of people see him a yearto pay their respects. Now I was always under the impression that Mao was a ruthless dictator and a Murderer. My perception hasnt changed, he killed thousands.However from aChinese perspective he broke the periodsof corruption and gave the people of China hope and pride. Thats why the Chinese still love him althougfh there is much hate around him also. Interesting stuff Chinese History. Vimo bought a chairman Mao watch which was really funny and quite cool.He hand waves...Mumwould love it. From there we entered the Fordidden City, this is a Vatican style city within a city. Its where all of the Emporer lived for thousands of years.Some beutiful artitecture is within the city and historyis eyeopening. We also saw the park where the last Emporer fled to and hung herself on a tree. We had to meet the Tour leader,for our 14 hour train journey from Beijing to Xi'an,the oldImperial Chinas capital. This was not as bad as you may think. 3 bunks each side and i was on the top. We played cards, drunk cheap Chinese beer ( I got a ickledrunk) And sleep. The hours past very quickly and we were awaoken to the next stopis ours... Now for a"hardsleeper" train this was pretty comfortable, and very fast. Then we were in Xi'an and to something I forgot about...The Terracotta Warriors. This was slightly daughting as we were all very tired, but the second we walked into the First dig...my eyes widened.....It is hugeand they are amazing. Thousands upon Thousands of 2000+ year old Terricota figures. The history is that A chin Emporer (thats for you Ruth...awhole Dynisty all to yourself) united the Waring tribes of China and bought the first Dynisty into creation. He wanted his army to follow him into the after life,an advisor informed him this wouldleave China funrable to attack. Soi instead he commissioned all artists in China to build him an Army he could take with him....made of Clay. The detailon these is amazing, originally they werealsocoloured but oxydiation destroys the paint as soon as they are dug up. Therefore the Chinese government have out a hold on the dig until they can preserve the paint also. They have also to my supriseunlike Egypt not yet opened the Tomb of the Emperer that the warriors guard. So more to come in the future I suspect. Another l;ittlefact was that the tomb was raided when the Emporer died and 90% of the warriors were destroyed.So the photos you see are the originals that have been rebuilt by arciologists over the years. Like a jigsaw puzzle...Amazing stuff. So from the Warriors we checked into our hotel room which all have been pretty good so far. And Claire, Matt, Paul, Vimo, Armal went for a walk. It is hot here....so the shorts were on. Xi'an is a walled city and with really beautiful scenery...The Tandem ride starts here After the ruide we decided to go to a local Noodle bar that the Americans said was ausome...cost 6 Quan...about 30p for some fresh noodles cooked while we were there...Mum would hate these places...unclean but thats China for you....The Group are really cool so far, no problems and everyone really contributes. Xi'an is gorgeous, so far the nicest city...its clean and fresh...Knackered now I am off to the Hotel and then to dinner.....we have a train journey tommorrow at 2pm so see you then. The next update may not be for a while because I have a visit to teh Longman Grottoes, Buddhist temple, then a late night train to the Cruise Boat...So see you soon... Just to let you know Xi'an was so friendly and lovely...I would rate it highly. Tommorrow we head to Luyang Adios