Xi'an - China!

OK, this IS a little late, but I am 'back dating' so as to keep it all in order, OK!

We arrived into Xi'an thanks to China Eastern Airlines. This was an interesting adventure, in that it was my first time on the carrier and the first time into China itself! True, I had been to Hong Kong, but mainland China, this was all new! We managed to clear immigration quite quickly, although the young lass at the counter was quite efficient in checking all of the documents! She corrected a couple of misplaced/aligned strokes of the pen to make sure that she actually 'worked', but who am I to complain!!!

We caught the bus into the center of Xi'an, and the hotel was a mere 3-4 minute walk. And my goodness, the swarm of cabbies that greeted us was amazing! We politely said no... No... NO I lost count just how many times I said this, but they just didn't seem to get the message!

Checking into the hotel, which was right opposite the Bell Tower, was also hassle free, and we were up on the 6th floor. When we opened the room we had a great view outside to the Bell Tower! We quickly unpacked, and thought about what to eat for dinner... And would you believe it, we had McDonalds opposite!!! It was more of a matter of quick and easy - it was late and we were tired...

So in the morning, we woke early, and (again) headed over to McDonalds for breakfast as it was not included in the tariff. We then came back to the lobby, spoke to concierge, and we had a driver for the day to take us out to the 2011 International Horticultural Exposition. It would take some 45 minutes to get out there, and it was nice to have someone doing the driving... It was CHAOS out there!!!

Bell Tower - Xi'an Night

Bell Tower - Xi'an - Day

Until I get my CF card data recovery done (it got corrupted whilst transferring pics to laptop), I will post about the Expo at a later date...

Hoo roo for now... ------