Xian part 1
We had a largely uneventful trip to Xian, marred only by a zealous customs officer at Xian who wanted to confiscate my iPad and iPhone charger on the basis it was a power bank. After i threw a wobbly, we had an argument, him speaking Chinese me English and after he plugged his phone in a nothing charged he relented,
We arrived at the Orange Crystal hotel Xian at about 1 am local time having left Lindfield at 7:45 am a total day of say 17 hours.
Xian has proved a plea at site so far, the hotel is in the central tourist district with a local market right next door. Apparently Xian is famous for its locally minded pink jade. Karen saw a beautifully made brown jade horse but it was regrettably out of our price range.
The city bell in bronze dates back to the Quin dynasty our guide said 2000 years old.
After the Harmans arrived our guide for the day, Shine, we visited the City wall about 600 years old. Weather is hot but not impossible, about sydney summer level.
This evening we are off to a Tang dysasty dinner and show. Photos are very unimaginative.
The most interesting part of the day in some ways was the visit to to the calligraphy shop where we learnt to draw some Chinese characters including male and female. The female character was kneeling - a kind of obeisance thing. It made me think long and hard.
Last nights show was interesting.
