Giant panda tour today. Chinese man (whom I shall now call Mr.Panda), picks us up with the rest of the group, at 7am. He's in a bit of a hurry. Little concerned that this panda "sanctuary" could be more of a zoo than a sanctuary, but the reviews online are good and it's approved by the WWF so fingers crossed. Did actually see several lovely pandas up really close, doing their panda thing. Nice big enclosures, lots of bamboo chewing and lolloping around yawning. ...

Arrived in Xian after a night on a "soft sleeper" this time...realised what we had been missing out on..namely, a door, curtains, and air conditioning. Much better, and much better sleep! Bit underwhelmed by Xian to begin with, particularly as taxi drivers actively turn us down for a lift so we have to trek across town complete with rucksacks, having spent two nights now sleeping on trains...fairly desperate to get to our hotel, but we made it ev...