Well today I got to tick another off my want to see list. I joined 7 others on a small tour of the sights around Xian. There were 3 Chinese Americans and 4 Germans who were all good value. We started with the mausoleum of emperor qin and also the Hanjing tomb. However the highlight was seeing the Terracotta warriors. The museum attached was fascinating and a real insight to life 2000 years ago. Not only did the emperor believe in after life hence building an arm...

Well I got to take my first train in China to get from Beijing to Xian. The days travels didn't start that we'll with it taking 45min for a cab to arrive at the hotel. I know now that taxis don't like early morning traffic in Beijing and avoid fares in the middle of the city. I thought for sure I'd miss the train but got to the station just in time. I had to ask around which way I should head as my ticket was in Chinese and I had no idea which of the many entries...

Well now the run is over I had 2 days to see what I could in beijing. The first thing that struck me is how clean, tidy and generally efficient things are. Outside of the blearing car horns it's a very modern city. I decided not to do a tour with most of the group but rather headed out with another kiwi for the day. We had a great time seeing tiananmen square, Forbidden City, general Mao mausoleum and the national museum. And caught the local buses around for 20c...

Well what an experience! They say its not what you look and but what you see that matters. Not only did i see but I got to do. The entire day yesterday went perfect. Was 4am start with the bus leaving at 5am. We got to Ying Yang square for the start on time(which is not normal). Had a hour to put kit bags away, warm up and soak up the atmosphere. 2800 runners all ready to run. I left at 7.30 in the first wave and had no problems with the first 5km up hill run cl...

Well here's the view from my room. A tourist mecca if you like... well yer im not sure. Little bit crowded and smoggy today. Jixian is our base for 2 nights for the run. By staying here it means only a 1 hour drive to the race start instead of 2 1/2hrs. Today I went on a tour of the Qing tombs. Was a good but long day. Worst of all my calfs are tight and sore from the WALK on the wall yesterday. I'm not expecting great things tomorrow. However I am bringing some...