Being our normal organised selves, we left half an hour to get to the station, get through security and find the platform, needless to say we missed the train. So, with a little help from a rubbish collector we found the ticket desk where we were told the next train to Pingyao wasn't until the following evening, so we decided Pingyao was prob overrated and Xi'an was the place to be. Having lost the money for the other tickets, we decided to budget and go for the hard seater for 12hours. We were pleasantly surprised when it was like the old trains as we were expecting wooden benches and chickens running around. We seemed to be the entertainment as they found us trying to get our bags down the train and in the overhead compartments highly amusing! Slept surprisingly well considering the lights stayed on and people smoked all night - and to make even better, we could hear people honking up spit right from the depths of their gut! We were relieved to get to Xi'an and see a sign saying Denis, being taken to our hostel complete with western food, free dvds and our own shower!

The first couple of days were spent lazing as Jen was poorly and Denise didn't want to get her hair wet in the rain. But we soon got our arses into gear and headed off to the Terracotta Army, which came complete with a free breakfast and Mao's grandaughter as a guide - never met such a scary Chinese person in our lives. Although not what we thought, they are the best 2000 year old warriors we've ever seen! However, others (Chinese) thought differently and were amazed at the blonde girls so took a picture of us instead...see guys, we are beautiful really!

Having been alcohol free for a week and a half (well, despite a few vinos) it was time for a night out, and with Black Russians for 20Y it was rude not to. So we headed out to '1+1 Disco', don't be fooled by the name, the Chinese know how to do decor in style and it put the London scene to shame. The only problem, there was no bar. Instead you have waiters who run to the offy for you. The other difference, there are no mixers, you buy the bottle. So again, absorbing the culture to the full, a bottle of vodka was purchased. 7/8s of the bottle gone and a few games of cherades later (yes we have finally ran out of conversation), the language barrier was no longer a problem and Jen was chatted up in Chinese whilst Nise was taught the dice game they were all playing and taken to the loos by a group of girls (yes mums, we know its not safe leaving each other in clubs, sorry!). However, crisis struck, we ran out of money for a sprite (translation was lost on diet coke). Desperate times called for desperate measures and Jenna sacrificed her lucky ten pound note which was being saved for an emergency. Despite many a hand action, kissing the queen and the use of a calculator, they didn't get that 10 quid is 150Y and they refused to give change, so it worked out the most expensive can of Sprite ever! Shortly afterwards the sickness hit and rock hard beds called. After an argument with the cab driver (for some reason he didn't get our drunken slurs) we arrived at our hostel. On hearing the smash of glass, Denise turned around to see Jenna flat on her face, broken bottle of vodka around her. For some reason putting the bottle up her jumper and stealing the last dribble from the club seemed like a good idea!!

We woke up with the worst hangovers ever - Denise in her usual fully clothed state and Jen even refusing food. But we dragged ourselves out of bed to see the Pandas (we kinda had to after we had bullied everyone in the hostel to go). Was worth the pain as they are sooo cute, we want one! It was a sanctury for sick animals and there was one Panda with 3 legs so we called him William. It was amazing to see Pandas in China, although Denise also saw alot of the floor as the head-between-the-legs position helped subside the sick feeling.

We are off to Shanghai tonight. 16 hours so we have treated ourselves to a hard sleeper and we will leave at least an hour to get to the station this time. No pics of this place as our camera decided to break but we've just picked it up so look out for more of our ugly mugs in Shanghai!