We are in Hong Kong and it so much more expensive here for everything!!!
Xian was fantastic, we had enough time to learn our way around and get to know the area. On our first day in Xian we didn't do much but we wandered around the night market area and got our sketches done! We had a big crowd around watching them sketch us for about 20 minutes and we came out looking particularly Asian! I don't think I'll put it up on the wall.
The next day in Xian we went to the Terracotta warriors which were amazing! They are one of the 8 wonders of the world and you can see why - there are about 8000 individually sculpted warriors that were built to protect one emperor when he died (the same emperor that ordered the Great Wall). Then we said goodbye to 9 people from our group and were left with only 6. We went market shopping a lot in Xian and I had a pedicure!
After Xian we caught a plane -the China Air experience was another interesting one, there were a few times we thought we were going to fall out of the air and the lady in front of me took the emergency brace position! We arrived safely and took a bus to a cool little town called Yangshou.
Yangshou has a population of about 30000 but it is aimed at tourists and has a street, called 'west street' that is full of cafes and bars and hotels aimed at westerners. It was good to be in a small town because we could see the countryside. We went bike riding through the limestone peaks with our group, they were about 100-200 meters high. We stopped for a swim in the river under a little waterfall and then Jack and I went with the local guide, "Farmer Su", into the water caves.
The caves were different to Australia because you are allowed to touch everything which means that a lot of it isn't sparkly and pretty any more. We took a boat into the cave and then got out and walked a long way into the cave until we found a mud bath! It was so gross - Jack was the only person (ever) who put his head under it! Then we walked a bit further and there were places to swim and a huge waterfall (all underground).
The next day in Yangshou Jack went rock climbing on one of the peaks, he took some video and photos and it looked very high! I went shopping and had a much awaited coffee! In the afternoon after a heated game of monopoly we caught (yet another) overnight train to Gangzhou. Unfortunately our train was delayed by 2 hours so we missed our boat to Hong Kong and had to wait around for about 6 hours! We made it to Hong Kong by evening - it is pretty cool here, it is very modern and everyone speaks English! We went to the night markets and had dinner with our group, then we crossed the water on the ferry so that we could see all the lights. Today we went to Hong Kong Island and caught a tram to the peak so that we could have a view of the whole city.
Tomorrow we are heading back to mainland China to catch a train to Vietnam. My birthday is likely to consist of trains, buses, taxis and customs lines! We discovered a few days ago that our visas were cancelled when we leave the mainland for Hong Kong so we had to get new ones today. Hopefully it will all work out fine and the next time we write will be from Vietnam!
Did I mention there is a typhoon in the area...it is very windy and rainy and the city might be destroyed...
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