Xi'an

We're finishing up our stay in Xi'an. We arrived yesterday morning after an overnight train from Beijing, then had a quiet day wandering the Muslim Quarter and napping. Today we took a tour to the Terracotta Warriors and a couple other places. We've learned the hard way that these tours will always take you to a couple "factories" for shopping opportunities, which has been very frustrating. Dad spoke out today and we were able to skip the silk factory tour at the end of the day.

I got sick during our last day in Beijing. Naturally, I blame the office rather than, say, the pollution, jet lag, cold, germ laden environment, etc. I just don't see how they could have caused it. Fortunately, I seem to be almost better this evening.

I had grand notions of how I was going to use this blog to write down all the funny things that happen, but I'm finding out that I just don't have the time. I'm sure I'll have lots of funny incidents to talk about when I get back. Things like being served hot orange juice at breakfast this morning. I burned my thumb when I reached for the glass! You really wonder where people here got their notions about what Westerners like.

Dad's doing great. With me being flu-ridden, he's been the strong, healthy one, which seems kind of ironic. He's been very patient with my slow pace, moaning, groaning, and (now) coughing. The pollution really bothers him. He handled being in the top bunk on the train without a problem.

Okay, gotta get going...