China - Day 5 – Thursday 8 October

We pulled into Xian at 10:10am – and it was even more crowded and scarier than Shanghai! We had to leave the train and carry our luggage several blocks to the bus, through crowds of people. How we didn’t lose someone I don’t know!



We were transferred to our new hotel – which was terrible. It smelt, was mouldy and very noisy. Not somewhere I would ever go again (Wan Nian Hotel).

At least we could have a shower before we were taken out to lunch (where we saw another two weddings!). Our first stop after that was the Shaanxi Historical Museum where we were given a quick history lesson on the Chinese Dynasties. It was quite fascinating!


Onto the Wild Goose Pagoda! This was a Buddhist Temple with a Pagoda built where a wild goose fell dead after prayers for a sign from Buddha. There were many buildings, each dedicated to a different Buddha, It was a beautiful place but the rain and fog (smog?) and a bad headache meant I did not enjoy it much.


The shop run by the monks gave us each a card with our Chinese zodiac sign on it as well as a list of the Chinese Dynasties.

Dinner was at the hotel and afterwards we were given the option of a reflexology massage in our rooms. Jason and I both took the opportunity! The massage was for 1 hour and concentrated on the feet. It was wonderful and we both had a good nights sleep after wards.