Tuesday June 16 - Xi'An

A blissful lie in, then breakfast. This is by far the best hotel breakfast we have had! After breakfast, I spent 3 hours on the Internet, updating the blog. Sorry its not up to date, but just finding the time is very hard. As for pictures, we keep hoping for the appropriate circumstances, i.e. DVD reader, or somewhere where we can access pictures on the camera, and a reasonably fast and consistent Internet. We visited the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, both close to the hotel. It ws fascinating learning all about the "drum culture" and how significant it is in Chinese history. The towers were first built ein 1301 but have been renewed many times since then. The Bell Tower holds a large bell which was originally rung in the morning and the Drum Tower has a series of drums which were sounded in the evening and 4 times through the night for different purposes. At each of the Towers we listened to a 10 minute concert using typical old Chinese musical instruments. It was quite lovely. Other than that we just wandered locally; went to Walmart to buy tomorrow's lunch (its interesting how places we don't frequent at home suddenly take on new meaning and become attractive because of their familiarity; had dinner in a Chinese restaurant; and finished the day with a beer at the Youth Hostel with the group. Xi'an is a large city, about 7 million population, and sits in a fertile plain of the River Wei. It has a large Muslim population, hence the Muslim Quarter. Although its been historically rich, the current city is new and reasonably clean on the streets, but pollution is huge. Our hotel was in the city centre and we could have been in a brashy US city except that the Chinese exude high energy and the sound of chatter increases exponentially in the underground subways (underpass tunnels for crossing under the roads - although a subway is being built). The thing that hit me is the variety of goods for sale. Advertising is bold; colours of packaged goods strong; and the variety endless. Clothes shops, shoe shops, cell phones, and restaurants are the most common. The young Chinese are very fashion conscious and girls wear high heels everywhere! However, we have all agreed (the girls at least) that the Chinese men's "fad" of rolling their t-shirts up to just below their nipples, thus exposing their lower chest and bellies, is a passion-killer!!