Xi'an

see all photos »

We left Pingyao at 8ish and we were due to arrive in Xian at 7ish but didn't arrive till 9. We had booked a hostel yet again so had another free pick up which was handy as the train station was ridiculously busy. Apparently they have lots of universities in and around Xi'an and everyone was just coming back from some sort of holidays. However, as the train was late the guy meeting us didn't have the car as someone else needed it so we had to brave a bus in China for the very first time. It is just like a scrum, people punching and pulling you trying to get on there. Once you are on it's fine it is just attempting to get on which is an issue, but with an additional 20kg's of padding on me in the form of backpacks I managed to push my way on fairly easily.

see all photos »

On our first day in Xi'an we got our bearings and had a little walk around. Yet again the city is within ancient walls which is a very nice setting as you walk around. I went to a Wal-Mart for the very first time as Noddy needed to buy some suncream as he didn't want a repeat of the Great Wall day. They only had a few brands on offer so he picked up the first and we walked back to the hostel fairly happy. That was until the chinese guy in the hostel looked at his suncream and explained that is a whitening cream that the local girls use to lighten their skin tone. Whilst Noddy tried to explain to the guy that he wanted to get darker, not lighter I did the only thing a mate could do in this situation...almost wet myself from laughing so hard!!!

see all photos »

We went for the cheapest rooms possible in this hostel to try and save some money and ended up in what resembled a janitors cupboard in the basement, cheap though! Our hostel was really cool, really open and sociable. It had a wicked little bar where people from elsewhere used to come and drink. On the first night we had a few quiet ones and met some nice german girls and also the french guy from Pingyao. The following day we tried to go and see the Terracotta Warriors, one of Chinas, if not the worlds top things to see. We got on a bus which turned out to be the wrong one as the bus pulled into a bus depot a fair few miles out of town. We had to get a bus back to the centre of town and try again. We got the right bus this time which took us to the train station. From there we had to get another bus to the Terracota Army. Being the useless so and so's that we are we failed to get on the right bus, instead getting on the same bus that we just arrived on and ended up back in the centre of town. Having done 4 bus journeys and yet ending up in the same place we started, we decided to gracefully retire for the day and go and get drunk instead.

see all photos »

And get drunk we did! We went out with ze two german girls and the french guy and ended up in a club called the 1+1. Within minutes of sitting down all these crazy chinese people came up started shaking our hands and then started buying us loads of bottles of whisky, a pitcher of some green tea whisky cocktail and a load of food. Awesome! Ended up getting back to the hostel at about 4am where Noddy proceeded to get better acquainted with one of the German girls. What a dog! Anyhow, we passed out about 5am and woke up the next day with a stonking hangover but soon perked up when we realised we hardly spent a penny as everything in the club was bought for us.

see all photos »

We decided to go and see the Drum and Bell tower on the Sunday. They are big towers and the Drum tower has lots of big drums in and the Bell tower has lots of big bells in. Who would have guessed?!? In the bell tower a load of chinese girls came in and did a little music show with all these old traditional chinese instruments and songs. Why the last song they played was Auld Langs Syne is something that we are still contemplating today!

Monday night was when things really got messy! These two Finnish girls who were staying in our room gathered everyone for some drinking games. We met two good guys from London, and most importantly, a 60 year old Canadian grandfather called Bill. Bill was steaming but immensely funny. Yet again another late night. Same again the following evening but alas, minus Bill who is probably never drinking ever again. In Xi'an I got introduced to a drinking game called Ring of Fire which is the best game I have ever played. Unfortunately it was also responsible for us doing nothing for four days. Had the funniest ever few days but had to leave for Shanghai full of regret that we didn't quite manage to see the Terracotta warriors. I have to leave this episode here as unfortunately this is a blog for all the family and some of the stories of these 4 days are definitely not for the family! Say no more.