It has been a really misty murky and drizzly day today so we decided to have a lie in and not to go anywhere special. We had planned to walk the outer walls of the city but it would have been horrid.
Checked out but stored our bags at about 12 midday and walked around a couple of very plush shopping centres . All designer labels plus Chinese look alike’s in western script. Prices much the same as Europe but some of the designer labels a little more. Needless to say there are not a lot of people buying. In about half a mile stretch there were about three large very modern malls with very few people in them. The most popular places are the fast food outlets. I suppose they were built looking to the future!
Went into a modern supermarket with all array of foodstuff , some obviously recognisable but a lot not. We did buy some loose green tea which is actually very expensive but everyone drinks it including us. It’s very nice.
Now a confession, I have not had a glass of wine since we have been here but do confess to a few local beers which appears to be quite weak.

Just run the gauntlet getting to the train station and onto our overnight sleeper bound for Shanghai. This time we are in a four bunked and shared sleeper compartment. I think we have two ladies with us .
Left dead on time at 17.12 and we arrive in Shanghai at 07.00 in the morning.

Nice job but at least they have one

Xi’an station chaos inside as we are about to leave on sleeper to Shanghai

Took a bus from the main railway station to the site of the Terracotta Army. At last public transport without having to stand. Seating only in this bus. The site is about 40 k out of the city and a massive 70 pence each one way. It took about an hour travelling through the suburbs of Xi’an. Massive constructions of new blocks of flats being built to house the many. Not a pretty site. Looked up populations of various cities and there are 9 million in Xi’an. About the same number of bicycles in Beijing !!

Pit 1 is the biggest of all.

This is the most amazing place I think We have ever been too. You see it in photo’s etc. but to actually see it all in place is incredible. It was only found in 1974 when a local farmer was sinking a well and found some artefacts and all this was discovered. They still have loads to excavate.

These deep pits have all been excavated from ground level with painstaking precision. Metal spears and arrows have all been found totally intact and still sharp. And to think that all this lot were constructed between 222 and 206 BC.

Half size bronze chariots.

Ate in great Cantonese restaurant tonight. Will download picies for Slim and Fred later in the Gallery section. Nighty night . 10.30 pm here. When do clocks go back ?

Arrived in Xi’an a little late at about 10 am. We did get some sleep.
Irene got off the train about a minute before me and when I got off I couldn’t see her so I thought she had walked on along the platform in front of me. Er didn’t see me either so stayed put. It is hard to explain the huge numbers of people everywhere especially railway stations. Needless to say there was no hope of finding one another so had to resort to the mobile . Er was in and me was out but we found each other eventually.
Checked in to our very nice hotel and had a snack then went in search of the Muslim quarter which was great. Loads of people cooking in the streets. Hustle and bustle and noise everywhere. Fantastic

Well last day in Beijing before we set off by overnight sleeper at 8 pm heading for Xi’an. Spent the day at The Lama Temple, largest Buddhist Temple in Beijing. After that a trip to The Birds Nest and Cube of Olympic fame.

At the hotel we asked them to book us a taxi for the Station, no such luck, but they would help us with our luggage to the main road, hail a taxi and tell him where to take us. If you don’t speak Chinese you can’t say where you want to go, so they often write it for you and then you give it to the driver. They have done this for us for when we arrive at Xi’an in the morning. Our taxi trip was eventful, we siddled up to a bus, which took the wing mirror!! The taxi ride was about £3.80 for 45mins, pretty good. At Beijing West, we ran the gauntlet of ‘helpers’, climbed a flight of stairs with cases and met the rest of Beijing that we hadn’t met on the previous two days. Yes, the Chinese use trains!! We are now en route to Xi’an with a bijoux en suite room for two, just tasted CR (chinese rail)’s attempt at catering, you know, British Rail are quite good! Hopefully we’ll sleep our way through Xiang Province with the help of a couple of very large beers.

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Caught the subway to Tiananmen Square with 5 million other Chinese only to find another 5 million had got there before us. Not only that about 2 million wanted to use the public loo plus us two. Irene did and has now had another experience of a lifetime.
The square is the biggest I have ever seen and the busiest but quite wonderful.
Need to say now that Beijing and China to date has been incredible and not as we expected. Fantastic to be here. Chinese outnumber Westerners by about a million to one.

Tiananmen Square in front of the Mao Memorial Building

There were huge queues of people filing past Mao, who is still lying in state! South of the square are two gates of old Beijing, we visited the main gate. After that it was The Forbidden City. Amazing, huge, colourful and very tiring. 8000 rooms, a km x 750 m, and more Chinese!

Gate of the Forbidden City

Palace of Supreme Harmony

Next port of call was Wangfujing Street. Trendy, expensive shops for the local trade. Interesting, showing us yet another side of China. Found back street market too. Back to hotel with sore feet!

Market street off Wangfujing Street

Back at the hotel after another day of getting to know & understand China. We went off to the Great Wall at Badaling today about 60 km outside Beijing. We decided not to do the tourist route, but go with the locals! Two tubes and then at Beijing North Station we buy ticket for The Wall. Ask for first class ( hang the expense) 60p each for a 75 minute journey. Great value, only problem was, no seats, sat on the floor. Walked to the wall paid £4.50 each for entry and walked with everyone along the wall for about an hour. Weren’t going to be caught without seats on the way back, so we were at the station in good time, got a ticket and started to queue. When the train comes in, they open the gates & everyone starts to run…… us included. It’s a scrum for seats and we won! Paul and I running along the platform with 700 fellow Chinese travellers. The Great Wall is quite an experience goes on and on, you could walk for days.

This evening we dined out at a Beijing Duck restaurant, we were the only westerners, the menu was only in Chinese script and the staff didn’t speak a word of English. Good Duck, £12 for two including beer, Paul was a happy boy!!

Beijing North Station with our fellow travellers

Set off from Exeter in luxury on National Express to Heathrow …. Oops sorry Brad!! By BMW.
All went well, flight OK. Arrived roughly on time. Now to amuse Nick Y, we took local transport to hotel, but by Butt misunderstanding managed to arrive at Tianamen Square, and start walking suitcases in-tow. Had a rough idea as to where the hotel was, but then Beijing is a big place. eventually we were picked up by two almost rickshaws. Actually two adapted bikes with seats on. Paul on one with suitcase, me on the other we set off for a tour of Beijing! What a sight we looked. After a lot of puffing, and not from us, we were dumped on a main road and said ‘hotel over there’ with a vague waft of the hand and asked for 60 quid. You can imagine Paul’s response, with my help they took us for a mere £30!! Only another half hour and we found hotel, great start … Ripped off in half an hour. (stop laughing Nick)

Above photo of our Courtyard Hotel in Beijing hutong

Afternoon walked to the drum tower and bell tower (ancient time and warning devices) and then around the hutongs. Bit like Chinese Brick Lane. Very few tourists and little English spoken, so a lot of actions. Ate tonight in hotels restaurant, insisting on Chinese food. Had hot bean soup, prince Qin beef, kong Poa chicken and rice with squid and prawns and some Tsingtao beer. All spicy and good, used chop sticks, so slow meal!! Is this what slow food means? Last items for the benefit of Slim and Fred!

The Drum Tower of Beijing with 24 drums aloft