Whoah, arriving in Xi'an was a bit of a shock. The temperature had dropped by about 10 degrees and it was raining. David looked great shivering in his flip flops and shorts!!!

We were met at the airport by a lady called Rosa who helped us sort out a taxi to the YH and train to Shanghai. David was beside himself with tiredness (and of course the cold) and refused point blank to endure another night on a train on a hard seat. Fortunately we did manage to book a soft sleeper on a train to Shanghai on Wednesday night.

We got to the YH at 7am, it is very pretty and traditional with open courtyards and plants and lanterns. The room was not going to be ready until 11am so we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept in the lounge area for a couple of hours.

On the 21/10/08 we joined a guided tour to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Banpo Village Museum and the Terracotta Warriors. What we didn't realise was that this would also involve stopping at about 3 shops to get us to buy some tat - why on earth would I want to buy a duvet or a life sized model of a terracotta warrior or indeed a 300 to 3000 pound jade ornament. By the 4th shop there was mutiny and we all refused to go in - victory for the tourist!!

The day was made for us by our lovely and entertaining american travelling companions Kris, Elaine, Gary and Gary junior.

Today (22/10/08) we awoke to rain and are heading off to Shanghai this evening where it is apparently also raining - boo hiss!

PS The computer is painfully slow so we'll update the photos soon!!!