After a gruelling train journey which took about 18 hours, we arrived in Xi'an on Friday morning. I managed to get about 5 hours sleep on the train but it was not very good quality sleep. On arrival, it was clear that the weather wasn't up to much (understatement). We arrived to torrential rain, and got a shock when I got off the train with my shorts and t-shirt on. The temperature was a mere 9 degrees celsius (Shanghai was very warm). I should have looked at the weather forecast before I set off I suppose, but I've been generally spoiled with nice weather since hitting China.

On arrival some of the group went to bed but some of us decided to start sightseeing, despite the weather. We went to the Drum and Bell towers and then caught a bus to the Xi'an wall. This took all took about 3 hours and then we went to the hotel and then to bed.

The hotel room is very cold. Apparently the government controls all heating in China and it will be turned on on 13th November (and not before whatever the weather!). The more I hear, the more I feel sorry for the Chinese people. I think that we should be very grateful for our lives (and particularly our freedoms in the West).

In the evening some of us went to the Xi'an Opera House to see a traditional song and dance show which was excellent. This was followed by a dumpling banquet where we ate 18 courses of amazing dumplings filled with loads of different things. They were very nice but we stopped short of asking what was in some of them as we probably didn't want to know!! It was a lovely evening and I finished the evening with a couple of beers with Rachel in the hotel bar.

Today, we left to see the Terracotta warriors which was breathtaking. I can see why they are the eighth wonder of the world. Since discovery in 1974 they have only excavated a small proportion of the area, and have lots more to do. There's lots to see and it was a great few hours of sightseeing. We also visited the factory that makes model copies of the warriors and saw how they were made in the traditional way. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at a chinese buffet place and got absolutely stuffed.

We returned to the centre of Xi'an and I decided to do some more exploring with Marissa (one of the Canadian members of our group). We explored the Great Mosque and the Muslim area of town which is fascinating and reminds me of parts of Istanbul(Xi'an has a large Muslim population).

The rest of the group have gone for Chinese massage tonight and then for a barbecue dinner and clubbing. I've taken a night off as I'm absolutely knackered so am looking forward to a long hot shower, getting into bed early and then reading a book.

We have to be up at 6am tomorrow to catch a train for yet another long journey (12 hours). The travelling is knackering and I think is a bit too much sometimes but I'm coping. I suppose that is the price to pay for seeing so many places in such a short space of time. I get chance to catch my breath in Hong Kong for a few days which I'm looking forward to immensely.

I have loads of nice photos and I'm a bit frustrated that I'm unable to upload them to my blog. All the internet cafes have either removed or blocked the CD drives and USB ports so there is no way I can do it. I'll upload once I reach Hong Kong.

NB A funny story from tonight. Me and Joe decided to go to Pizza Hut because we're a bit fed up of rice and noodles. Joe's food came quickly but mine came one hour later. We tried to ask for a reduction in the bill (the waiters didn't speak english but understood what I wanted). After fifteen minutes of protracted discussions among themselves, they came to our table beaming and bearing a good will gift for me - a red Pizza Hut bandanna (just what I always wanted!). Joe and I cracked up as we thought it was funny and just accepted the gift gracefully and gave up on the reduction in the bill. We got our change and noticed when walking back to the hotel that they'd deducted 8 yuen from the change to cover the cost of the bandanna! What a cheek! It made us laugh even more though!!