Xi'an has been a bit strange.It is cold and rainy, as Antony said before, and we are both a bit disappointed with the weather. We were looking forward to emailing everyone back home about how hot and lovely the weather is but truthfully, I've looked at the forecast and Newcastle weather is better than here!But as they say, it is still better than Jarrow…On the night train to Xi'an, we met a young Chinese guy who was keen to practice his English so we chatted for a couple hours.Once in Xi'an he suggested that we meet for dinner and immediately Antony and I thought he was going to try to con us but we thought that we would go along for the ride and as it turns out that he was 100% genuine and a really nice guy.He, and a friend of his, took us out for Chinese BBQ and dumplings followed by fried pumpkin cakes, all delicious!Afterwards we hopped in a taxi and went to the old city walls (at least 600 yrs old) and he sweet talked/bribed the guard to let us wander around for an hour.The walls were lit by wonderful red lanterns and the city buzzed beneath us.It was a great night.

Today, Antony and I went on a tour to the Terracotta Warriors which they say is the 8th wonder of the world. Regardless, it is undisputed that it must be the greatest archaeological find in the 20th century and it was wonderful to see a dig that is in progress and imagine what might be underneath the earth you're standing on. The tour also included some impromptu visits to factories manned with a staff to customer ratio 10:1.Antony was annoyed with the tour guide and I bought a silk pillowcase…

Now we are waiting for our next overnight train south to Chengdu (panda country for all you bear lovers) in search of the elusive sunshine.

Love, R & A

Ps. Still staying on hostels and they are actually okay!