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Ni Hao!
Greetings from China, people - it's Beth here with the latest in our worldly adventures. So we've made it to China in once piece after two days spent solidly in airports or on planes. We had a stopover on the way in Chengdu which were really annoyed about at first but when we rocked up at a rather plush looking hotel (all courtesy of Air China - thanks Air China!) we weren't quite so narked by the whole experience!
So we're now in Xi'an, home to the Terracotta Warriors and a real 'Time Team' haven. It was actually really fascinating to see them up close - Dan and I avoided doing it the tourist way and muddled our way onto the public bus to get there - and then tried to follow the tourist tours with english speaking guides as much as we could without getting rumbled - ingenious! Saved us a packet though.
So far we're liking China a lot, it's much more developed than India and Nepal, food is pretty good though I am increasingly worried about our MSG intake - so we headed out for some Goji berries and fruit from the market today (Gillian McKeith stylie) and we feel much better for it too. Language is the only thing we're coming a cropper with really, so very few people here speak much English at all so we're having to use frequent animated gestures, though Dan is valiantly attempting the odd phrase which I won't even make a stab at as I feel I sound too ridiculous. We're getting by though and handily everyone understands the age old language of money - it's interesting how many taxi drivers, market vendors etc see us purely as a walking wallet and assume we're stupid because we can't speak Mandarin and think we'll pay 4 times as much for something - very annoying too but my dear father has taught me well and I find myself saying 'I'm not paying that!' more often than not at the moment.
We'll be heading off to Beijing on Friday, we're booked onto an overnight train which should be great fun seeing as the only tickets left were 'soft sleeper', the best you can get and according to the book coming complete with lace curtains and pot plants - well worth the money I feel!
Sorry if we appear to be coming across as the tightest people in the world (we're not, honest!!) but your money certainly doesn't go quite as far here as it did in Nepal/India and if we're to avoid coming back on the next plane home we have to return to student days and really make the pennies last.
Well, we we will no doubt blog again from Beijing to regale you with more interesting stories from the likes of the Great Wall, Fobidden City etc so for now I'll say bye and hope to hear from many of you soon.
Lots of love
Beth and Dan x
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