Ok so blogging again a lot earlier than i thought and it is mainly bcause w have free internet in this guesthouse! More about this place later on. But first:

On our last day in Shanghai we got on a minibvus to go about 2 hours outside of Xi'an to see th teracotta warriors. Although I had heard of them before I didnt know the full history but a quick glance at lonly planet actually got me surprisingly interested. The exhibition area itself is really well done; split into 3 different chambers it shows the warriors in various different stages of being excavated. Chamber 1 is by far the most impressive however with about 800-1,000 warriors all lined up, every single one different! Crazy stuff. We also had a huge mug of tea- i chose some dragon thing which is apparently good for my inner soul and will bring me luck and good health. Included in the tea was a traditional chinese 'tea ceremony' where we got to try another 3 teas including chrysthemum (?) and some other random flowery thingy. I think I could get into tea... After the teracotta warriors museum thingy w had a rally nice buffet lunch (STUFFED) before heading back to Xi'an for a nap and some Wal-Mart hunting (did it really exist?) That evening we had a meal in the hotel across the street which was very nice although thre was a guy sitting behind me spat contantly directly onto the carpet! Obviously spitting is a big thing in China and lots of people do it in the street but never had we seen it directly onto the floor in a resturant! Although... having said that we did see a man on the overnight train the other day do it and just wip it into the carpet with his shoe.. definately worth wearing flip flops on trains!

After the meal we headed to th station to board our evening train at about 11pm. Luckily we had been upgraded for some reason so got soft sleeper tickets which meant only 4 beds together and we had our own cabin with a door! The toilet still smelt bad though and they were hardly comfortable... This morning we got off the train at 7am after a very short and broken sleep and headed to our guesthouse in Pingyao.

The most impressive thing about the town is the city wall which is 6km long and still stands intact around the whole town. It attracts a fw toursits but not toooo many due to its ancient buildings and classic chinese architcture. Our guesthouse is reallt cool- it has a number of courtyards and lots of like dragon details and such like. As we arrived so early we couldnt check in so had breakfast before heading out for a short tour of the town. After this we got on an electric golf buggy (the town centre is car free) and travlled about 5km (at about 0.2mph) to a temple on the outskirts. Having seen about 10000 temples in the past 5 weeks i wasnt necessarily looking forward to it but it was vry serene and th detail was awesome. After this wee had a quick lunch and then checked into the hotel for a quuick shower and nap time (do u see a theme developing?) In the afternoon we scaled the city wall and walked for about an hour before giving up and scouting around the city instead. There are alot of stalls here selling antique looking thingys really cheap so obviously all fake but still, they are quite nice. Tomorrow we have quite a long bus ride to Datong where we are taking a diversion to see the hanging temple. After this we hit BEIJING!!!! woop. Also did i mention that I HAVE SWINE FLU? Well, having spent a night together in a very small cabin we are all sniffling a little bit, i really hope it gos before hitting beijing airport though or i may wll be qurantined!

Anyways, for now I must lave you all. Peace out xxx