Sat 12th May
When you exit a train station in China you are directed eithier up or down a stairway, along a passage and out into your city/destination. You do not pass anywhere near the waiting areas. Other than on the platform you don't mix with anyone else boarding another train. So once out of the station you cannot go back in without a ticket. So waiting inside Xi'an's (population over 8.7 million) train station was not an option. Luckily for us it was warm and dry in the clear grey dawn. Some birds were stirring and people were picking up friends and family. It was busy enough with red and green taxis waiting and buses pulling in/out. We perched on a bench infront of a section of the city wall, eating what was left of our nibbles, a cleaner jet washed a bin next to us which made us scramble. Then a Chinese man in a brown leather jacket made a bee-line for us.
"Frank?"
It was our pick up from the train station and thankfully he was early - 6:30. His name was Jason and he hurried us to a double decker blue and yellow bus. He'd paid our fare already. A few minutes later the bus stopped in the middle of the road (construction works were blocking the bus stop). Off we got, crossing over a people's recreation park, where many older people were already out doing Tai Chi, babminton etc. There was a guy who had a rod with a lead on it and he was whipping the ground with an almighty crack! Hence we named him 'Indiana Wong'. A two minute walk to our hostel 'Han Tang House'. It was nearly 7am but we couldn't check in until 10am. So we seated up in the bar/restaurant area and dozed on and off.

Weather was sunny 29°c (real feel 36°c) and no wind.
After check in and a lull in the room, we bought a coffee in the bar to fuel ourselves and as chance would have it, met the guy from Paris who was on The Great Wall tour! Big smiles all round. He mentioned the Terra Cotta Army - there's a cheaper route rather than the hostel's tour and recommended the Muslim quarter, but "don't go down smaller roads, there's nothing there."
On our walk about we met a Chinese father and son, Simon, from Guilin who wanted to show us round in Guilin - he was staying at the hostel.
Walked to the Bell Tower, huge building set in the middle of the main road and then to Drum Tower. Had a beef pitta a little spicy but yummy. Walked around the Muslim Quarter, busy, bustling with lots of food stalls, noise, smells and animal carcases! We found the Grand Mosque, something to do another day.
Heading back we ate an ice lolly - lovely - ¥3 (£1.50 for 2) to cool us down.
We booked our onward sleeper train tickets to Guilin from Sasha at the hostel. She told us about a tasting session that evening at the hostel - our names were on the board straightaway. Back in the room to shower and chill out. So far we were the only two in an 8 bed dorm! Oh, spoke too soon. As we heard a fellow room mate struggle with his key. Enter, Jeremey a tall thin curly haired man from Brittany France. He is a GP. Good to know. (I wonder if he knows a good remedy for a bad cold?)
Out and about again we happened to stumble upon a small fountain show, complete with communist music background, in the people's park from earlier in the morning. A lot of families with small children were enjoying it too. It being an unusally flat surface (for China), one father took the opportunity to bring his child out roller skating ... by pulling him along on his motorised scooter! Health and saftey eh? What's the point? Te-he.
The tasting session, hosted by Manuel, in the hostel was free (bonus!) and sourced from local ingredients. A few people were there including Jeremey and us. We met Alison, a broad, afro haired Chinese lady (I first assumed she was staff at the hostel). The usual questions 'where are you from? How long have you been in China? Where have you been?' Etc. Strangely enough she said,
"I think you have some Chinese in you... Are you mixed?"
"Er...No, no. Just regular English." Hmm?
Anyway the food! There were spicy vermicilli like noodles, a 'spicy slice', 'biang biang noodles', a very sour and spicy vegetable thing (didn't go back for another one), a few more dishes and something yellow and sweet like turkish delight in texture and flavour - may have been made with some kind of rice. There was obvisouly lots going on, I couldn't catch all the dish names.
We were joined by some more people, most were American and some English/ Europeans (damn, less to eat!). One girl from America had been living in Sichuan, (i.e Szechuan style) South China, for over two months and said she had gotten so used to hot spicy food that she was underwhelmed by the heat on the spicy dishes we were served. Well, good for you love.
Cue a round of boasting and bragging about how much hot and spicy food people could take (our lips were numb at this stage). Then a stampeed of others burst on to the table, tasting and feeding. I guess that's us finished then?
We found a quieter corner, ordered a bowl of chips and chatted and drank with Jeremy. He gave us some good travel tips for bookings, apps, travelling Nepal and India. He had celebrated his 35th at Everest Base Camp. Wow. I wondered where we would be for our birthdays.
Bedtime.