Day 8 & Day 9

On Monday, we had an early start at 4 am, catching the morning bullet train to Xi’An. The train travelled at 300km/h and the journey took 5.5 hours. On our arrival in this ancient city, we spent the afternoon relaxing and settling in before a dinner of Hot Pot. Chinese Hot Pot is a meal where each person cooks there own meal in a small pot of hot broth. We all enjoyed cooking for ourselves and have vowed to do more of it when we return home!! On Tuesday morning, after waking up at the Xi’An City Hotel, we set off to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was used to store Buddhist scrolls brought from India. The pagoda is currently an active temple with numerous monks practicing Buddhism. The Pagoda is on a slight lean due to earthquakes in the area. The Chinese call it the “Leaning tower of Xi’An”. The tour guide showed us Chinese paintings and calligraphy. We each had our Chinese names painted on a sheet of rice paper, and some of us bought paintings along with their names. After the Big Wild Goose Pagoda we enjoyed a delicious lunch buffet at a 5 star restaurant. Even the toilets had 5 star service, with a butler attending to our needs , turning on the taps, giving us towels to dry our hands and opening and closing the door. Once we had finished lunch, we had planned to ride the ancient city wall however as it was raining heavily, we went to the Muslim market instead. There, many boys practiced their bargaining skills buying small items. After dinner, we went to a traditional Chinese performance, which showcased many acts of music and dance. It was very interesting to watch and listen. When the show had finished, we walked back to our hotel whilst taking many photos of Xi’An at night.