Huaqing Palace of the Emperor

The last stop on our tour of Xi’an was the Huaqing Palace, the Emperor’s holiday home...it contained many hot spa pools, not that you would want to swim in them now - they do not seem to have any filtration, as they are quite green and even the goldfish don’t like it much...

There were many ornate buildings, and lots of history. Chiang Ki Shek was captured here in 1936, and deported to Taiwan, never to return to China. Many historic meetings have also occurred there. There was another gondola to the top of the mountain above the palace, but it would not have been as impressive at the one at Mt Huashan,so we missed it.

Phoenix and Mr Wu drove us to Xi’anbei station, to catch the fast train back to Shanghai. We bade them farewell, and parted ways.

We are now on the train heading 6 hours to Shanghai, where we will surely sleep like babies tonight...Read more