The Last Lunch

Despite our concerns and the rumours prior to the trip, the quality of the food has been superb….. a bit “samey”, like breakfast, lunch and tea, but there hasn’t been anything nasty, other that on the food stalls where you could get the odd scorpion or two!!

Adventures on the overnight train

So, we travelled from Beijing to Xian on the overnight train.  We survived!!  We all agreed it was an experience, but not one that any of us are in a rush to repeat!!  To say we were relieved that our second 16 hour journey had been upgraded to a 6 hour journey on a the […]

The Terracotta Army

Words cannot convey the shear scale of the place.  The warriors were built to keep the 3rd Emperor safe in death.  Totally extravagant and completely bonkers!!!  They were discovered by some local farmers going about their daily business, to date only 2000 have been completely restored.  Work is still ongoing.

A day in traditional China

What a day!! We were cooked a meal in a chinese home, it was fabulous.  The hutong rides were awesome, we saw so much of traditional China….. what a difference!  Apparently the area we were in was extremely affluent and expensive.  It is where many of the last emperor’s staff went to live, including the […]

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, an amazing place, housed 24 Emperor’s who each entertained up to 3000 concubines …. apparently the emperor’s had relatively short life Spans!!!

We climbed the Great Wall!!!

Today we climbed the Great Wall…… and most of us felt every step and all had wobbly legs when we got back down.  A shout out to all those who went to the top and beyond, particularly Mr Roche who put the rest of the staff to shame!!!