This one isn't really a proper blog, but I don't know another way to make sure I mark every location in order on the blog. The only notable thing to mention, as we have no been through Xi'an a fair few times, is that it was Valentines day while we were there. This resulted in the only day ever were Chinese couples appeared in equal harmony, rather than the usual appearance of Chinese Boyfriends seeming to be in a perpetual state of terror towards their girlfrien...

This was meant to be posted 5 days ago, but as offexploring is the worst blog website since time began, it hasn't let me post it. Hopefully I will have some luck this time! Moving on from Zhangye, Xi'an was the natural next stop. Despite being there over national day 3 months ago, We had no plan on missing this lovely city out of the spring festival travels. Like Zhangye, I'll be honest, we didn't do that much. We definitely saw more of the evenings than the d...

As our first holiday with a length longer than a day, we were naturally all very excited to get away for a bit. And what better city than X'ian, labeled by some as China's most cultural city. Made famous for the terracotta army, it's certain that they aren't the only thing to go to X'ian for. My first thought on X'ian on arrival was slight disappointment at how 'un-chinese' it felt to me. As a big city, even by Chinese standards, X'ian has been hit hard by the h...