Day 8 - Xi’an City Wall & Taizhou

A lie in! 😃 We woke up at 7:30am and had time for a leisurely breakfast, as we had a free morning before our airport pickup at 2pm. We headed out in light rain to the City Wall, through the bustling city and all its colourful buildings.

After going through yet more security, we entered the Wall via the South gate (there are 4 gates). It was lovely to amble along, just the two of us, stopping at little market stalls and a couple of exhibitions.

The Wall is lined with pretty red Chinese lanterns. Through the slits in the walls you could see the moat which encircles the wall (you can walk or cycle around the whole city via the wall). We walked to the West gate where there were many beautiful young ladies dressed in traditional costume having professional photographs taken - (t’s serious business over here!)

We dropped back down to the city to make our way back to our hotel, taking escalators down to the cleanest subways we’ve ever seen, ready for our airport pick up. En route we passed the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. The Bell Tower would ring at sunrise to wake the city and you would hear the drums from the Drum Tower at sunset telling the city it’s time to rest. The Drum Tower was also used for entertainment, performances and celebrations. Neither are used today.

A quick coffee stop at none other than Starbucks 😊 (it’s not easy sourcing cappuccino’s, although we each treated ourselves to a caramel macchiato).

We arrived back at the hotel just in time to the hotel for our pick up to Xi’an airport for our flight to Yangzhou / Taizhou Airport, where we’ll be met by none other than Lawrence - so very excited! 😁

Before boarding our flight, there was time for a back, neck and shoulder massage - sounds lovely right? Leaning forward on one of the chairs, eye mask attached, the work began. Whilst the eye mask pulsated around Catherine’s eyes, the electronic rollers began to massage - it felt like being bruised by a ball bearing! It was set to a gentler setting - ah, much better! Phil had one too and quite enjoyed his.

15 mins later, we were aboard the plane - it was reassuring seeing our luggage being loaded from our very squashed and limited leg room seats! Great to be heading to a warmer climate though - Lawrence assures us we’re in for some sunny days ☀️

After being served a speedy meal of beef and rice with yoghurt for dessert, we began our descent which proved to be rather bumpy! Not the first class journey we’ve become accustomed to 😳 😂

We landed in Yangzhou around 7pm and were through the airport quickly. Lawrence came to meet us - so good to finally be with him ❤️ 🤗 Lawrence had arranged our hotel and soon had us checked in at Wanda Realm- he chose well 😊 It has quite a grand lobby area and relaxing piano music being played on the grand piano (unfortunately not for guests to play).

We headed straight out to see Lawrence’s apartment which is just a five minute walk from our hotel. We were welcomed at the door by his two cats, Oreo and Reore who are so very cute and have the biggest cat playground! We had a lovely couple of hours together and a late meal that Lawrence cooked for us - a delicious chicken stir fry with rice and a homemade cheesecake for dessert.

Feeling tired after a long day, we headed back to the hotel ready for a good nights sleep! 😴Read more