We're in Xian

Woke in Yangshou to no rain. Wait a minute! Am I seeing right? I was, but it was only momentarily. Rain returned happily to see us off from this very friendly town. The girls really enjoyed their time here. It gives them an opportunity to interact with the Chinese poeple in a way that is not possible in the bigger cities. We bid farewell to Dragon and Mr. Moore, extra guides who accompanied us on this part of the trip. Before we left we sent off some postcards that will probably arrive after we return home. Amazing that I can update this blog and give you almost instaneous feedback, but a postcard still takes an age to travel to its destination!

We had a two and half hour bus trip to the airport for our flight to Xian. Then it was an hour and a half flight to this city centre. We had to farewell our guide, Stony, at Xain airport. He has had to return to his family due to a situation there. The girls were very sad to see him go but all understood that family comes before all else. At Xian airport he handed us over to our new guide, Olive, a lovely young woman who is more than capable. She has a very happy outgoing manner and has already endeared herself to the girls. We settled into our hotel, The Bell and Drum Tower, and headed into the Muslim quarter for dinner. Xian is a city, not a small town like Yangshou, and the girls were very aware of the difference. Many more people and beggars on the streets. Dinner was an interesting variety of tastes and we were thankful to not have any garden variety molluscs make an appearance!

Everyone was very tired after a day of travel and retired to their rooms to get ready for the big day ahead. We visit the Terracotta Warriors tomorrow and then tackle Mt. Huashan for our overnight stay on this mountain. I'm pleased to report that in my discussions with the girls all realise that it is going to represent somewhat of a challenge, but they also recognise that it is going to be a challenge with great personal reward at its completion.  

I won't be able to post tomorrow, but will try and do so on Thursday. Thanks for all of the comments. The girls have been thrilled to see that you are watching and interested.  Sorry no photos today. The hotel has no wireless so I'm having to use their desktops for internet connection. All of their screens are written in Chinese and I can't figure out how to read the USB to retrive the pictures I copied to it. I'll try and get some up on Thursday.