I can now write blogs in China!!

China's obviously not as Communist as I first thought as I'm able to access my blogs in Xian. So here's my first from China! xx


First I need to update some of you on my last few days in India. We spent our last week in Delhi, which was so welcome because it was so Westernised compared to the rest of the country. I know that sounds a bit uncultured, but after eating so much dodgy food a few KFC's and Pizza Huts went down a treat. We also spent the day in Agra which is where the Taj Mahal is. I know it sounds like a cliche but it really is 100 times more amazing in real life. It is absolutely enormous and the designs on the marble are so intricate - it seems almost impossible that anyone could have built it. Anyway, our journey to China ended up being a total nightmare. We were supposed to fly from Dehli to Colombo then from Colombo to Bangkok, but our flight was diverted. So we ended up having to fly Delhi - Colombo - Bangkok - Beijing. By the time we arrived at the youth hostel on the 25th May feeling like zombies. Our time in Beijing was awesome though... it's such a modern city and so vibrant despite the communism that's still prevalent. We visited all the main sights - the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, The Summer Palace. But the highlight (obviously) was the Great Wall of China. The wall is divided up into lots of different parts and we decided to get a tour bus to the one that's furthest away from Beijing at Jinshanling. The reason was because this is the most unspoilt least touristy part of the wall, and you're able to trek along it to a place called Simatai. It was a gruelling journey to say the least. Some parts of the wall were in their original state so were crumbling away and other parts of it were really really steep so you had to climb loads of stairs. In total we walked a total of 10 kilometres - I feel bloody fit now!! The views are absolutely breathtaking from the top though - you're right in the mountains so the scenery, even without the wall being there, is amazing. After we'd finished our trek, to get back down to the bottom we had to take a zip wire from a bout 200 foot up in the mountains... I was absolutely shitting myself at first... but I conquered my fear and bombed it down to the bottom! It was awesome!! Another quick point - I have bought my birthday present!! We went to a camera shop in Beijing and I found my perfect camera - a bright pink Sony CyberShot with a touch screen. It's a bit like an IPhone. It was 200 quid but it would have been a lot more cos we got some money off it. Jake's putting some cash towards it and I'll use my birthday money to pay for the rest. My old camera was fine but Jake and Si's cameras are so brilliant that mine seemed quite out of date. Now I have the best camera... hah! We arrived in Xi'an, our next leg of our China trip, this morning by sleeper train. What luxury that was compared to the sleepers we got in India! We had our own cabin with 4 bunks in it, air con, really comfortable bedding, our own tv screens... and not a cockroach in sight! The main reason we have come to Xi'an is to see the famous Terracotta Army (we're going on a special tour to see them tomorrow). But, today we had a brilliant day just exploring the city itself. Xi'an is surrounded by huge grey city walls and you can go round them by bike - so that's what we decided to do! There were tandems available, so we rented one tandem and one normal bike... it was hilarious cos we took it in turns to ride on the tandem! I'd never been on one before so when I first went on it I was wobbling all over the place, but in the end it was so much fun. In the end we cycled 13 kilometres... so after doing that at walking the Great Wall, I reckon I could run the marathon in the Beijing Olympics!! (?) So what's in store for the rest of our China tour? Well, on the 1st of june we're going on a 3 day, 2 night cruise down the Three Gorges. Then we're getting a sleeper train to Shanghai.... so that's where I'll be for my birthday!! Cant be bad eh? Cocktail night it is, even if I have to drag the boys kicking and screaming!! ;-) After Shanghai I think we'll get an internal flight to Guanzhou, in the south, then we'll spend the last week doing Macau and Hong Kong. Cant wait!! Anyway, sorry this is so long!! Had a lot to talk about. We're having the time of our lives - I'm sooo glad we've decided to do this. Sorry this is a group email but I will send individual emails very soon... I'm getting death stares from other people who are waiting to use the computer in the internet cafe!! Missing you loadsAll my love, Emma xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx