Early start, then a brilliant day!

From a 5 am wake up, and an 8 am flight to Xian, our last morning in Nanchang was hectic but went very smoothly. Everyone was on time for the bus and the plane left on time.  It was very nice of Dr Zhou and Linda to wake up early and see us off.

After Simon, being last off the plane and taking a wrong turn up the air bridge and nob being able to find us all for a few minutes, rejoined us thanks to a helpful air hostess, we were met by our local guide, Mei and our drive, Mr Wong.  We were whisked through the city of Xian, marveling that there weren’t witness to at least 15 accidents along the way to our first real tourist site – the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.  It was built over 1500 years ago to house the Buddhist teachings and figurines bought from India by the monk, Xuanzang (and brought to life for Australians by the old TV show, “Monkey”).  More souvenirs were bought and some students had their first (and certainly not their last) experiences with street vendors.

From there, we went to the Xian City Wall, the largest remaining original city wall in China.  The Wall as it currently stands, is about 700 years old, and is plenty large enough for modern tourists, including 16 intrepid Australians, to hire bicycles and ride around its 14 km.  A few braved tandem bikes across the very rough paving and everyone made it around in time.  There was only one stack (again, it was your author, but after a few minutes and only a little bark off, even he made it!).  The view was magnificent, despite the “mist” that had settled in due to the dust and afternoon traffic.

After checking into our rooms at the Shangri-La and having a couple of hours rest and trying out the spa (and recovery for yours truly), we were off to a dumpling dinner.  It was vast and magnificent.  They had at least 16 different types and flavours of dumplings, some even in the shape of the food we were eating (rabbit and duck spring to mind).

Back to the hotel and back to the spa for many, or hitting the pillow for the rest.  Tomorrow is exciting – the Terracotta Army!!