Ok, friends and readers... it's been a busy two days (big surprise), it's late (big surprise), this keyboard sucks and I've just had a completely, amazingly, fantabulous massage, so this will be as short and sweet as I can manage.
Our last day in Beijing started with a drive by the Bird's Nest - the stadium built for the Olympics. It takes about 2 weeks to get tickets and the crowds were the worst yet, so I'm glad we just took shots from the bus! From there we went to one of three one style neighbourhoods that is being preserved by the government. They are basically a warren of narrow alleyways with almost ancient Greek style houses: four walls of rooms around a central courtyard. We got to visit one family's house, meet all their dogs and their fighting cricket. Cool! We also got pulled around in tricycle rickshaws for a little tour, which was fun. We had a home cooked lunch in another house in the neighbourhood and hands down it was the best food we've had here so far!
From there we were off to the Silk Road Mall, which is basically six floors of stalls selling anything anyone can think of to make a knock-off of. Busy, noisy and totally sensory overload. I might buy some of that stuff in Shanghai, but I couldn't see any reason to try and drag it all over the country, especially with the extremely strict weight limits on domestic flights. Instead, Mom, Karen and I had a lovely chat over blended fruit drinks.
From there we headed back out to the airport and had to say goodbye to Marco. The plane was definitely designed for short people and we were all very glad that it was only an hour and a half flight. Particularly since there was a lot of turbulence! But we did make it in one piece to Xi' An.
Back on another bus with our new local guide Rocky (or you can call me Stone) - too hilarious, but his Chinese name means rock or stone, so I guess it works. He's nice enough but ridiculously repetitive and if he tells us that Emperor Chin was the first person to unify China for the first time, I'm gonna belt him.
This morning we visited a ceramics factory and saw how the Terracotta Warriors were produced. Of course, there was also an opportunity to buy replicas from about 10cm tall to life size. To give you an idea of this crowd, at least one couple bought a life size one and arranged to have it shipped home! Yikes. From there, we went out to see the real Terracotta Warriors. They were too cool to try and describe quickly, you'll have to hear about them when I get home.
After lunch, we... did something. Hang on, I'm drawing a blank. Oh yeah! The hot springs. Unfortunately, like Banff, the natural water isn't running anymore, so you can't bathe, but the setting on the side of a mountain is beautiful and overlooked by a Taoist temple. I wanted to visit but you have to take a cable car up and we didn't have time. We had to head back to the city for our dinner show: dumplings and a recreation of a Tang dynasty pageant. That was cool; gorgeous costumes and talented dancers.
Apparently, Xi' An is also famous for it's massage parlours, so some of us went after dinner. For $120 Yuan (about $20CAN) you get a foot massage that lasts for 70 minutes. It starts with your neck and shoulders while your feet are in a hot bath. Then you lay on your back while they massage your arms, then your feet and legs, then you turn over and they do your back. All six of us were in the same room and the therapists were all quite young. They found us hilarious and laughed through the whole thing! I feel marvelous darling, just marvelous! Must teach Stuart how to do it!
Anyway, I'm crashing, so that's it for now. Tomorrow we're on another plane and then a boat, I think. I'm told there are internet connections, but it may be another two days 'til I can actually use it.
Cheers!
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