Dragon of China

Slept like logs, the breakfast is unbelievable here, Asian and Western. At 8 our guide Jessica was waiting fur us. We are on our way to see the terracotta warriors in heavy traffic. Hear everyone snoring? 😃
A but concerned about the IL problem but we are still 9 days away...
We arrived at about 10.30, nearly 40 degrees C and sweltering hot. The crowds were phenomenal and the toilets..a new benchmark.
A disorderly queue, our new guide Nan (who told us to call her Jessica) a young just graduated girl, brought us in and we gasped and pushed for a photo but oh was it worth it. Unbelievable.
Creepy. It liked like the Snow Queen's Palace, all these men turned to stone in one second. They are so real and life-like. We saw the 3 pits, the 3rd bustling with archeologists still unearthing artefacts. After Nan took us to the Muslim quarter for lunch, we had a typical local meal with the Uigur flatbread filled with meat, delicious, large noodles with meat and vegetables, soup, vegetables and fruit. Delicious. Then we walked through the Muslim quarter (they arrived a very long time ago to trade, since X'ien marked the very beginning of the Silk Road, and then decided to stay. Their mosque, stinky canned the Great Mosque, is the largest in China, and a welcome respite from the heart and noise. It was a place of peace, quiet, flowers and prayer. Although we were not allowed in the prayer room, we could walk in the garden and admire the outer gates and gardens. We went out and walked again through the souk, the others started buying junk and getting ripped off as these places go..all of a sudden, I was walking with Oleg, Robbie runs tearing past me screaming: have you seen my ruck sack? I said no, of course not! So he ran back to the mosque. I ran with me preparing to have to go to the police. He had his last remaining phone, the company one, since he forgot his at home, his iPad, his wallet, all his money and cards. I was holding all the passports and visas ..
Anyway he came out with the rucksack, noone had taken it yet but now we are all watching him like hawks! 🤣😆
After we went back to the hotel and napped for an hour before going out again.
We wanted to see the fountain lights show at the Large Pagoda so we took a bus, an adventure in itself, and fit off at this gigantic food court. We managed to secure a good seated place to watch to incredibly magical spectacle. Hundreds of thousands of people gather here every night to watch this and it's just with it!
It lasted until 9.30 pm then we ventured back to the Muslim quarters and decided to go for Street food since all restaurants close at 9.30 in X'ian. After walking a bit, they all decided to stop at a very smelly grill while an angry guy grilled something that looked like a baby Alien (yes, the one from the movie with tentacles, not cute ET), slathering tons of oil and spices. They all said it was good but the 3 of us kept clear. We still have a ways to go and I don't want us to run into.. Running problems! 🤪
Robbie stopped for the coloured balls cooked in dry ice and bought some for Oleg who ate one and promptly vomited in the street (which was ok, it was probably the cleanest thing there). We bought him yogurt, drinks and some delicious Uigur hot beads, that was really good. At the end we took 3 rickshaws back to the hotel which was fun. We sent Oleg to bed and went for drinks with the adults. We went to the nearby King Garden Bar, very snappy, all water fountains and garden set against the city wall. We had some good laughs, some locals came to say hello, I had done people ask for my WeChat. Funny. Back to the hotel Oleg was sleeping like a baby. He's really our God both.Read more