We landed in Xian this evening and made the trip to the city with our new guide Neu(sp.). During the trip he enthralled and amazed us with his life story: during the start of Mao communist rule of China (from 1949 to 1980) he was in the Red Army, he was 16 in 1966 and throught his time during those terrible years he saw awful things and experienced a time of utter craziness. He was brought up throughout his entire life to love Chariman Mao and it wasn’t until he was 30 until when he was finally given the opportunity to essentially think for himself. It was an incredible journey listening to a remarkable life story. Needless to say he’s a happier guy now and I thanked him for sharing his story with us. We arrived at the hotel quite late and made a b-line to the bar and restaurent for dinner.

Oh hang on… I haven’t mentioned our morning at the Summer Palace, this morning, before the flight. The Palace built by the second to last Emporer (who was in fact an Emporess, the last emporers mother) who spent the entire Navy budget on this incredible lake side palace, which includes court yards and stone guardens galore. The weather was fantastic and hot! We wandered around along by the waters edge taking our time looking at the scenery and finally jumped on a dragon boat across the lake before lunch. A proper touristy day and a pleasure to see some stunning views.
OK, back to Xi’an. Xi’an has the only remaining city wall (Mao destroyed the rest). We past through the magnificent West gate of the wall to enter the city properly. A seemingly out of touch city from the impact of the last fifty years of Chinese cultural troubles, Xi’an contains relics of the ‘old’ China stretching back to roughly 4000 BC (I know!).
…I’m waffling, more tomorrow when see the city wall itself, AND the TERRICOTTA ARMY!!!! …bit excited! Nite.

P.S. Our hotel is again stunning an we can see the city wall and South gate from our huge panoramic window. Bliss!