Chengdu

We arrived in Chengdu late on the Thursday evening our time here was short and for one reason (the same reason I assume most people visit Chengdu) Pandas!!! It has been my life long dream to see the Pandas and I have been desperate to see them since i realised they do not have them in UK zoo's (until recently that is), I did my research and decided the best time to visit the breeding and research centre would be first thing in the morning as soon as it opened..... At 7.30am; we got there for 20 past and queued for tickets (there was only about 10 of us queuing at this point) we were finally allowed in at around 7.40 and we made our way to the top half of the park where the Panda nursery was.

Most people just started at the bottom and worked our way up we were hoping we would beat the crowds by doing it the opposite way and for most of the morning we did, it is so beautiful and peaceful at the breeding centre and the pandas are very quiet animals, we stumbled across our first panda a adult just wondering round it's enclosure, I could have cried I had looked forward to this moment for so long and to see them just enjoying their environment was amazing, some of the cheekier pandas seemed to love the attention sitting right in front of us just chomping away on bamboo, others we more shy and hid in the trees, we made our way to the first nursery where there we a variety of panda babies all different ages (including the brand new 1 month old twins); in the morning is when the pandas are most active they get fed between 9-10 and then go to sleep so to have the opportunity to see them playing around was fascinating as they are portrayed as such lazy animals, there was one panda cub in particular which just showed off constantly playing around on it's climbing frame, rolling around and posing for the camera whilst others would just relax and eat bamboo. We wondered round the site for a few hours seeing all the different panda groups and then it started to get busier and busier to the point where we could not get to the barriers to see the pandas, we decided at this point to start heading back to our hotel it was only 9.30 but people were pouring in through the gates I am so glad we went that early it allowed us to pretty much have the park to ourselves.

We jumped in a taxi and headed back to our hotel just in time for breakfast, once we had gotten showered and ready we went to explore Chengdu which was not at all what we expected it was so built up and very city like, we were expecting a little more rural countryside. We wondered across the river which was lovely and then crossed the bridge to a little more of the commercial side of Chengdu which seemed very westernised with Starbucks and sports bars but it was still lovely none the less. Our hotel was called H-Hotel Riverside and it was lovely and perfect for our short trip the only issue was the noise we were next to the street where all the night life was and even though we had requested a quiet room we heard the music blaring until around 2am each morning, again not quite what we had expected of Chengdu but still part of the experience of that city, the hotels roof top bar was amazing with views right along the river which looked magical all light up at night, we could only enjoy it for a short while as we had to get a early night ready for our 5am start the next day in preparation of our flight to Shanghai.

12 Hours in Xi an

We arrived in Beijing train station with plenty of time to collect our pre arranged tickets (booked through diychinatravel) it was slightly stressful to say the least as the station is very busy but we managed to find where we collected our tickets and made our way in to the station which was a experience in its self; as we were still relatively new to China and it's ways it made me slightly uncomfortable that everyone in this small waiting area were just staring at us and watching our every move (we did get used to this after a few days and felt almost like celebrities! Haha).

We were finally able to board our train and located our sleeper cabin... Now at first I had debated whether or not to get the more expensive tickets and have a deluxe soft sleeper, I am so glad we did as obviously other countries have very different versions of deluxe... Our room which was perfect for our journey had bunk beds, a chair and a toilet and sink with a lockable door (highly advisable as 1 hr in to the journey some one tried to open our door along with others, we assume it must have been people looking to see if there were any empty cabins they could stay in). Now it wasn't the most comfortable nights sleep but the cost compared to a flight from Beijing to Xian and a hotel for the night made it completely worth it; thankfully Louis will sleep anywhere and I was used to having very little sleep at this point. (one thing to point out is if you are doing a overnight train take drinks and food on with you as there are no trolleys that come round with these options, thankfully we had a good meal before getting to the station).

At 7am the music started to play and information was being given over the speaker system, we knew we must be near; the evening before we were given the option to purchase a coffee for in the morning this came round at 7.20 and we spent the next 40 minutes taking in the scenery. We had arranged for a guide to collect us and take us to the warriors (originally we were going to go it alone but as we had 2 small suitcases with us we did not fancy lugging them round so a guide with a private car seemed like a good idea) I had been set on going to see the Terracotta Warriors first after reading so many reviews about how busy it gets in the afternoon, as we only had 12 hours in Xian our guide suggested we go somewhere else enroute to the warriors as we would be very early to the airport but I was set on seeing the warriors first thing and I am so glad we stuck with that decision, when we were leaving there were bus loads of people pouring in and even at the time we got there it still took a lot of pushing to get to the front to see the warriors. 

Our guide Caroline was very knowledgable and gave us plenty of time to look at everything and was able to answer all of our questions whilst giving us background information on the site. It was a amazing thing to see all these warriors lined up and to know that they had all been rebuilt and positioned as they would have been all that time ago, it was fascinating to hear all the different facts on how they knew which warrior was for what depending on their hair style, body armour and even facial expressions and that over the past 30 years it had come this far yet there was still a lot left to rebuild; whilst the warriors have been on display their terracotta colour has pretty much vanished, so the site carry out a variety of different techniques to see what will help to keep the remaining warriors that are yet to be displayed as original as possible, there are even parts of the site that have not been touched just to ensure they preserve them to the best of their ability.

After viewing the warriors we grabbed some lunch and headed to our next stop another moselium (Hangyangling) next to the airport where warriors had also been built but during a different dynasty and in a very different style; this site you could walk on glass over the site and see the warriors below, these warriors were only small and had no arms or clothes (their arms were made of wood and their clothes silk which had all disintegrated overtime) but there was a variety of rooms that had been made each with a different purpose, this moselium even had animal figures which would be used as food it was so different from the Terracotta museum in the layout and size the emperor of this moselium did not have as much money as Emperor Qinshihung and obviously had different priorities.

When we finished our tour and headed to the airport ready for our evening flight to Chengdu....

(we booked our trip through a company called terracottawarriorstour.com but Caroline is a freelance guide and can be contacted by email amazingxiantour@hotmail.com)

Beauty of Beijing

We arrived in to Beijing Late on Monday night where our private shuttle vehicle picked us up and took us to our hotel, after 2 days of flying having some one collect us from the airport was a godsend!! We got to our hotel around 11pm and checked in and tried to get a early night ready for our early start.

We had to get up at 7 to get ready for our 8am pick up for our Great Wall tour, our guide Joe (hamlet2008.com@163.com who came very highly rated on trip advisor) met us right on time and we headed off to the Wall; having some one speak English was a huge help, Joe clued us up on local things, places to go and some phrases. It took us around 2 hours to get from our hotel (the Emperor next to the Forbidden City which has a amazing roof top bar) to the start of our walk along the Jiankou part of the wall the only section that is fully original, we were aware it would be a challenge from reading up about it but we were assured our hard work would be rewarded by breath taking views.

We trekked in what seemed like the wilderness for over half an hour (with regular catch our breath breaks) whilst Joe told us the history of the area and about all the different stories associated with the wall, when we got to the first tower it took our breath away unfortunately there is no picture which could convey how stunning it is up there, and even though every part of me was terrified of how high up we were and how easy it could be to fall the views were so breathtaking it was worth it, Louis had no fear what so ever (thankfully as he was the backpack carrier and photo taker as I was too scared to even try get my camera out); as we looked out at the challenge ahead I was daunted by it but knowing Joe did this hike upto 4 times a week and came so highly recommended we completely put our faith in him.

We trekked higher and higher through the deralict towers which looked as though they should have fallen to pieces years ago, the history of it all was fascinating and eased the reality of the challenge; there were parts where I was having to bum shuffle down vertical drops with only a few bricks to help me down and other parts which were like rock climbing without the harness, Louis is a adrenaline junkie and loved every second and he was such a huge support to me, he kept me calm and constantly checked on me though between him and Joe (who was casually walking eating Oreos like it was no challenge) I did feel a bit of a sissy, but when your having to climb on a wall which there is nothing but a huge drop on the other side and plenty of wobbly bricks you can't help but think how easy it would be to fall (I imagine confidence is they key with this); but with every 'challenge ' as Joe calls them, the feeling was amazing to know you had overcome another hurdle and each view was worth every second of fear! After 3 1/2 hours of trekking we reached the end of our part of the wall and began our descent to our vehicle, the sense of achievement was amazing and is something that will stay with us forever I am so glad we decided to do that section of the wall over all the other newly rebuilt commercial section which get packed out with people, during our whole 4 hour trek we saw 8 people and half of those were water sellers! It was perfect and it was also the place where Louis asked me to marry him so it wil always have a special place in our hearts.

We headed back in to Beijing and stopped off to have some traditional Chinese food which was amazing, Joe ordered the food so it was nice to try things out of our usual comfort zone then we headed back to our hotel exhausted from a mix of jet lag, no sleep and excitement. The hotels roof top bar was amazing the views over Beijing were stunning we spent as much time up there as possible during our short stay. Wednesday we were able to have a little lie in and then spent the day exploring the forbidden city area, now maybe we were being nieve but we did not expect everywhere to be as busy as it was definitely believe all the reviews and guide books when they say do things early in the day as it get packed beyond belief in the afternoon, we wondered round Tiananmen square where we had to do numerous security checks and cross a mass amount of roads and there were people there in their thousands it was overwhelming so we wondered away from that area and out towards more rural Beijing which was amazing, streets with lanterns and food stalls and big streets with shops, street sellers and entertainment this was the China we had come to see; when we wondered back we wanted to go to see the forbidden city but the queues were just too long to wait in and a lot of the area was under construction so we just wondered round and took in the atmosphere.

It was soon time for us to leave Beijing and catch a overnight train to Xian which was a experience in its self....