Xi'an and the Terracota Army.

06Nov: I arrived in the early am to Xi'an and went to bed once I booked into the hotel and went to sleep for a few hours. I was so tired. I went downstairs to drop some laundry in and saw this guy checking in. I said better check your change as I had been short changed checking in and had just realised it. Turns out this guy (John) is from Kenmare in Ireland, so we arranged to meet for dinner. In between I checked the town for different tours. We ended up having dinner in the hotel and it was lovely. I went to bed early as was still tired.

07Nov: John and I had decided to go on the Eastern tour. There were about 10 others. We had a great guide. The terracotta army was amazing. Only 2000 of these warriors have been unearthed from this emperors tomb (the first emperor of China who united the whole country) but they believe there maybe thousands more as there is about 20 years work still to do. We went to this hotsprings palace also, as well as a shop, selling mini terracotta warriors. When I came back, I met Raj (from Milton Keynes) who had been in my dorm room and we decided to go for drinks tomorrow night. There was also a Dutch lady and German chap whom I had a chat with. They were all lovely. I met John again for dinner as we were both so tired after the tour we ended up having dinner in the hotel again. We went for a drink of coffee and had a great chat for hours until midnight. The latest I have stayed up in weeks. Turns out he is not 19 tho he looks it but is 31.
08Nov: John and I met for breakfast. While John was getting his flight sorted, I ended up talking to Wazza from Australia. He had been on the terracotta tour yesterday and had been through Russia on the Transib with 14 others but now all the others had left, the last of them today. He asked where I was off to next and I said the 3 gorges. He decided to come too so off we went to book our train to Chongqing.
After John and I went off to view the bell and drum towers, then wandered around the Muslim quarter. We found a great street of bars so thought that would be a good place to go tonight.
We met Raj and Wazza for dinner. We had a great meal. I shared a bottle of the Great Wall red wine with Wazza. It was actually quite ok. We then went to the bar area. In the first bar there was live music but it was loud. I had a beer with Raj and John, as they had no wine and Wazza had some spirits. We went to another bar with better music and I had another beer and a B52. I met some locals and was asked to come over to them to chat, as it was one girls birthday. I ended up chatting to them for a while. They all spoke English well, as they were studying it. We then ended up in another bar which was quiet but you buy a bottle of vodka then bring the mixers and fruit and you pour you own drinks. There was great music and we all had a small boogie and took some silly photos. We went to the the most famous club in town 1+1. That was when my problems started... Not being a big drinker and having not drunk more than a glass of wine or more than a shot of vodka for weeks, the drinks I had took their effect and I ended up quite ill in the toilet. Not great. I love clubbing so missed that and went home.
09Nov: I was so hung over. I met John, Raj & Wazza for breakfast. I was barely able to eat it. I then had to rush off as I thought I was going to be ill again but wasn'. The boys thought it was really funny and couldn't believe I had spent an hour in the toilet. They had lost Wazza too and thought the 2 of us had scarpered off together. How could they think such a thing. I stayed talking for another while then left the boys go off. I went back to bed.
However, this lovely Swiss guy with gorgeous eyes, had moved into our dorm and I ended up chatting to him for an hour. He had a week off from college where he is studying in Singapore so we had a chat about that, as I had been there a few months ago.
In the evening I met the boys for dinner and we looked at the photos from the night before. They were so funny. We said goodbye to John as he was off to Shanghai that night to meet his friends.
10Nov Today I said good bye to Raj. He left this morning to go to Shanghai. I met Wazza for breakfast and we got the bus to the Big Goose Pagoda. It is a nice temple complex. Quite serene. The Pagoda itself is 64 metres. I climbed to the top and the views were pretty good.
I left Wazza to his own devices and I went and hired a bike to take me around the city walls. Xi'an had much of it's city walls intact then the local authorities rebuilt the remaining bits. Now the walls completely surround the city and you can cycle around the top. They are about 14 meters across and 14 km long. Fairly impressive. The sun was splitting the stones and it was so beautiful. I was on top of the world cycling around with no traffic and taking in the superb views.
Wazza and I met for dinner and wandered around the Muslim quarter and found a really fab little restaurant with great kebabs.
We then got the train to Chongqing. We had a berth to ourselves. No one hacking his guts up. Fab. Got a good nights sleep.
11Nov: We thought we had until 1pm to get to Chongqing but we must have got the express train, as at 10am the staff came to kick us off the train. We had a bit of a rush but it was great as it meant we had more time to sort the cruise. We left our bags at the train station and got a taxi to the port. After a few negotiations we finally got a boat with a 2nd class berth. After a wander around Chongqing a very, very packed and busy city, we then headed off to the Ciqikou Ancient town, built in the 15 hundreds. It was packed with tourists but it was still absolutely fab. the little shops and streets were just gorgeous and we had the best kebabs ever without being ripped off. It had very arty shops packed with items I have not seen anywhere else. We even had a chance to go to a tea house and listen to some traditional Chinese music while we sipped.
It was then time to head to our luxury 4 star cruiseship. Our rather large rust bucket was packing them in. It was spot the foreigner and there were only about 7 or so. We thought we were going to have our 4 berth cabin to ourselves when our roomates arrived. a 40something couple, with no English. But they seemed pleasant enough. Wazza nicknamed them Trevor and Nancy.
12Nov: Next morning though, we realised that Trev was typical Chinese and hacked his lungs up into the bathroom. We were grateful that he was not hacking on the carpet in the cabin or smoking in the cabin. Many of the Chinese hack their lungs up or blow their snot out of their nose along the corridors and in the restaurants etc. It has apparently reduced. The government in an effort to reduce this offensive habit and to please the Olympics committe before the Beijing Olympics, has launched a campaign and fines to stop it. It has reduced but it bloody well hasn't stopped. When Trev and Nance left, I went into our bathroom there was a huge glob of hack on the floor which I tried to wash with the shower. Between that and the smell of urine coming from the squat toilet, I started to gag and actually had to leave. I went to the public toilets instead which were more tolerable. The fog was clouding everything and the view was of cruddy cities. It did not bode well. I felt somewhat dissapointed and a little bad for Wazza, as this had been my idea. Went to bed early.
13 Next day I didn't go to the temple, as it was a 6am start. This morning tho
Gorgeous
14 Nov: Last day of cruise. Kind of sad to leave the old rust bucket and Trev and Nance. Wazza and I rushed to the front to get out in teh first batch so we could go to the 3 gorges dam and get to Yichang before it was too late for Wazza's flight to Shanghai. We were first on the bus, having walked instead of the cable car but still were one of the last buses to leave, as everyone else faffed. However, the dam was damn impressive. It is an unbelievable feat of engineering.