China 2010 Cont'd

The last two days have gone from the global to the very local almost by the hour. We visited the Great Wall and the terracotta warriors, both 2200 years ol and we also discovered ordinary life, meeting a farming family, a calligrapher and furniture maks. This is the rainy season in Xian and it was indeed very wet. Since Xian is the eastern end of the silk road, we had our first glimpses of silk embroideries, jade and porcelain. Fine papercuts, shadow puppets and dumplings are a feature of this area. Our 'dumpling dinner' last night had 8 types of cold appetisers and 18 kinds of little dumplings (like won ton). We had to quit before the last course! The eveing ended with a wander through the Muslim quarter of Xian and the raucous night market. We're next off to Dunhuang and more remote parts of China. Will let you know more, possibly on Monday when we get to Kaili.

Yes this is really it,

It was awesome watching the archaeologists at work restoring these magical figures.