We got to the airport at around 6.30pm, our flight scheduled to leave at 8pm. Our guide Holly rushed us straight to the check in line which really didn't impress Karron because she wanted to put on her jeans before getting on to the plane. In the end, she was scrabbling around getting them out of her bag whilst in the check in que.As it turned out, the flight was delayed by over an hour so there really wasn't ever any need to rush.We landed at just gone 11 and me...

After The Wild Goose Pagoda, we made our way to Xi'an's City wall. Built by the Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Bang 194 BC, it is one of the oldest structures in China. It's 13 km in length and stretches all the way around the main part of the city, a bit like York. The guide told me we were walking on original bricks! Xi'an has been the capital of China on a number of occasions because they say it has good Feng Shui. Tall and overbearing, it has protected the inner c...

This Pagoda was originally built in 652 AD by the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. He built it for a famous Buddhist monk called Xuanzang. Xuanzang was dedicated to having a better understanding of the scriptures that had come to China from India and to find out more took a 17 year journey to India and back. 50 years later it was extended and made more robust by the Tang Empress Wu Zetian. As we walked through the main gate, the first thing that struck me w...

We arrived in Xi'an Today, just after lunch. Flights all on time and Karron got away with her over weight baggage - phew.We were met by our guide Holly and our driver 'Mr T', he was actually called 'Mr Tau', or something like that, but each time I tried to pronounce his name it made Holly chuckle so we settled for 'Mr T' to make it easier.It took about 50 minutes to get to our hotel, right in the centre of the city. It's called 'The Bell Tower' hotel and the co...

The Forbidden City was the home of the Chinese Imperial Family for centuries the flag stones we walked over at the entrance date back to the 1400's. It is called the forbidden city because it was forbidden for the normal people of China to enter. This is because the imperial family were considered god like and only they and officials were allowed inside. There are 5 gates into the forbidden city, they are all very large. Each one has 81 gold roundels on, represe...