This was a new experience for me, and one which I approached with a certain amount of concern... My preconceptions included very hard sleeper, smokey and noisey.. I have to say, this was not the case at all.. Hard sleeper, is comfy, the locals are really respectful and everyone is quite.. the smokers move away from the sleeping area to smoke.. so it was actually a very relaxing way to travel...

The only trouble for me was my snoring.. I didn't want to keep the whole train awake, so I kept myself awake all night... which meant by the time I reached Xi'an I was done in.

Xi'an is a former capital city in China and has quite a diverse history. There is a large Muslim community, with an ornate mosque in the centre of town... There seems to be more of an financial divide here compared to Beijing, there was a lot of begging, especially children holding onto you and begging. This was quite hard to see. The rich were rich, with Buick dealerships and Western fashions and goods, but the poor really were very poor.

We spent a couple of hours just walking around the back streets and chatting with some of the locals, and then went for a HotPot dinner in the Muslin quarter.. The main street in the muslin quarter had come alive by night with street vendors cooking the most amazing smelling food, plus many other vendors offering anything from local peanut cakes to dried fruit, right up to the tourist goodies.

This street was amazing, the smoke caught in the street lights, the smell the noise, for me this is really what I came for.
The little hotpot restaurant was inbetween some stalls and what most people at home, would describe as dirty.. you guys probably would walk right past.. but this is China.. so in the sure knowledge of Immodium in my pack.. I got stuck in. The format is a big metal dish sitting in a hole in the middle of the table. The dish is divided into two.. and on one side a spicy stock is boiled, on the other a mild stock. You then go an select your fare from big baskets outside, so some spinach, some lamb, pork, random seafood and many other non-descript foods... then you cook them yourself and eat at your own risk...
This was excellent.. and I writing this several days later and can honestly say I sufferred no adverse effects.

That night a few of us were up for a Chinese Disco thing.. and headed to a Disco on South Street. The music was quite good, a western mix of Drum and Bass, with a bit of cheese. The Chinese can not dance though.. it is really funny to watch. Most just swing their hips, sometimes even with their hands firmly strapped to the side of their trousers...
There was one 'cool dude' who had obviously had some western influence.. he was wearing his shades inside, had a camp sleeveless vest on, and was doing some Justin Timberlake-esk moves.. and teaching people... Crazy!

We had some problems ordering drinks, as in China the norm is to order a round of the same thing for everyone in your group.. They couldn't get the idea of 2 of this, and 5 of those... so it wasn't long before we gave in, and headed to a bar in Coffee Street.

Coffee Street, is where the weathly Xi'an locals hang out.. and drink coffee.. not really something the Chinese do properly, but here it was good. At night all the coffee houses turn into Cocktail bars and Mickey, Adrian and I were the only ones up for it.. We ordered random drinks, choosing things off the menu which we didn't have a clue about.

I ordered a "MINT ZUT" which turned out to be Creme de Menthe and 7Up, so you can see where the name came from. Adrian had some other Green drink which was probabl CdM with Tequilla, and Mickey Mike had like a triple shot Tequilla with something we couldn't identify.. I can't remember the names of their delights.. but I am sure they will post on this blog.

We were done.. it was late.. we were semi-drunk.. so we headed back to the hotel. Again I got to see the real poverty sitting side by side with the afluence. People were sleeping rough on market carts.. not like one or two.. but lots of people.. and in the main square there were lots of people sleeping out.. There was even an enterprising guy renting out mats to sleep on.

I had to be up early the next day for 7:00am T'ai Chi....