Day 8 We survived the Train to Xian but don’t have a T-shirt to prove it.

What an experience on a Chinese train!  After our bottle of wine and visiting a little bit more it was time for bed.  As I said yesterday the four of us had a compartment with bunks on both sides....in the end Barb and Carol took the top bunks. One western bathroom like an airline bathroom and one Chinese style toilet per car and a room with 3 sinks, there is also an attendent for each car.  After we got in our pjs, lights out!.....This was called a soft sleeper but the beds were very hard. We all slept but not too great a sleep and it was very hot and stuffy by morning.  And there wasn’t any bathroom visits in the night!!!  This morning we were all stiff but they did bring us coffee. And since the Chinese style bathroom was all plugged up everyone was in line for the western style.

 

The Chinese bathrooms are a hole in the floor like ones found in Japan and some European countries.  They usually don’t have toilet paper so our pockets are stuffed with toilet paper before we leave in the morning.  David always makes a point of telling us where the cleanest bathrooms are on our touring whether it’s western or Chinese.

We were picked up by our local guide Lena (David and Cathy are still with us too) and made our way to the bus which took us to our hotel....really nice like a suite, bedroom part and sitting room, 2 Tvs (which we don’t watch) and a bathtub and a separate shower.  Great breakfast too.

Then off we went to the Wall....this is a wall that is around the old city of Xian....it has 4 gates in each direction, a moat around it, the wall is wide enough for 4 carriages.  It is 13.78 kms around and was built in 1378.  It is the host for the International Marathon. Very spectacular.

The Muslim market area of Xian offered us wonderful sights, sounds and smells.  Imagine the Richmond night market during the day. We saw everything from pomegranates being squeezed, walnuts being roasted, omelettes being cooked, crates of fresh and dried fruits, tea shops and all the souvenirs you could want.

 

Lunch was another superb 8 dishes of spicer food.  Combinations of veggis and meat, soup, eggplant and even American french fries!!

The Provincial Museum was filled with artifacts from the Xian area.  There were three exhibition halls to explore featuring clay, iron and porcelain pots, tools and figures.  There were even a few warriors on display.

As we finished a bit early, we had time to walk through the Horticultural Expo grounds and market before watching a dancing water show near the Big  Goose Pagoda. Exhausted, we boarded the bus one last time for the day and headed back to our hotel. We ate dinner, wrote up this blog and now it is “good night!”