15.00
Bit of neglect going on here! I'm actually on a boat on the Yangtze river right now, but will update you on Xi'an!

(25th sept)
We arrived in the morning to pack our group of 16 (plus bags!) into two pretty small vans/minibuses. Transport is definitely interesting here! More crazy driving and horns every 5 seconds...and possibly a minor bus crash number 2...but neither party stopped despite the definite thud haha.

Xi'an was instantly very different from Beijing and Shanghai. I think the west, even the big cities, is a lot less developed than the east. So many people, and was pretty dirty, especially after how clean the others had been. The smells were really unpleasant as well... I had started to get used to the occasional whiff of toilets in the other cities, but here you would be walking up a street and get assaulted with loads if different horrible smells! We had also left the sunny skies behind...I asked Jenny if it was smog or just fog...she said it was "just fog but it is there all the time"! ...so, smog then? Overall, when we first arrived we didn't get the best impression, especially when we were all so tired after the 17 hour train! Can't remember if I mentioned the crazy guy on that train wearing wellies and a suit and generally being pretty weird as well..,

When we arrived at the hotel it was too early to check in, so after using some of the worst toilet facilities I've yet encountered, Jenny took us out to have a quick look at the town. We went to the bell tower in the centre, which was pretty cool... A bit like all the other old Chinese buildings though to be honest...haha. A few of us went to Starbucks on the way back for breakfast which is stupidly expensive for China (about the same price as at home though). This kind of marked the whole group's downfall to western eating after all our cultural Chinese meals lol...so worth it though! In case you're wondering, no I didn't go as far as having a coffee, just an amazing smoothie.

I majorly lucked out at this hotel. Sarah and I (who had been sharing up until now) had asked if we could switch it up a big because kimberly was on her own too and hadn't paid a single supplement, so it would be nice to all get a chance at a single room! So I was on my own! I managed to get a pretty big room with a queen bed, no window (which meant I didn't get woken at 5.50am every morning by the construction next door - such a blessing in disguise!), and fairly clean, with a working shower. Everyone else seemed to be complaining of the noise in the mornings, some didn't have hot water, and the couple on their honeymoon even had twin beds! So I did really well for myself, especially when all I'd really needed was some space on my own!

So after we had had a rest and chilled out a big at the hotel, we went to see the wall around the city. The plan was to cycle around it (16km)...I only remembered that I can't really cycle because of my knee anymore once I'd got halfway there! Luckily Claire and Deborah weren't really up for it either, so we just walked along the wall for a bit, took a few pictures of the guys on bikes (I had a wee go and definitely couldn't have made it more than a few meters haha!) we just got down from the wall and went to see the calligraphy street, which was basically a Market.

It was really cool, I loved looking at all the stuff! You could see them making all the things at their stalls as well which was fun. I suddenly found myself in my element bartering for things (should've known I'd be pretty good at that probably). Bought some presents which were really cool, but mostly I just enjoyed the bartering part haha, could do it all day and not mind if I came away with nothing! The other girls took a while to catch on... They tended to walk up and decide they wanted something before they asked how much it was...made it pretty easy to overcharge them haha. Was brilliant fun though, and so calm around that area, even nice to just be wandering in a smaller group! So then we went back to the hotel, and after a minor drama thinking my bank cards may have been cancelled, we went for dinner. Just realised i never mentioned lunch! We had it almost next door in what seemed to be a Chinese fast food place. Was pretty nice, I went for noodles to get a change from all the rice and ended up with something very similar to like a chinese spaghetti bolognese! Nice though. For dinner we went for a hotpot which is apparently more of a treat for Chinese, still fairly cheap though! It tends to have been basically all I can eat every night an rarely pay more than a fiver!

There was a big heated bowl in the middle of the table with two types of "soup" in it in 2 halves (ie boiling water with vegetables in it). Then we were bright out different frozen meats and veg and it was poured into the bowl, we would wait for it to cook then eat it! To be honest it wasn't my favourite meal so far, but it was still ok! The best bit was when they produced some slices of potatoes haha. Also at the end there was noodles, but this guy came into our private room and did this
Like dance with the noodles to make them, it was class! Took some videos so I'll get them up when I can! They were nice enough as well.

After dinner we were shattered so most of us went to bed, a few went and had a look at the muslim market.

I'll start another blog for day 2 of xi'an!