Chengdu Panda reserve

Had a weird train trip from Xian to Chengdu. Carriage not bad but a bit old. Unfortunately the squat toilets were the worst we have experienced yet. Shared a carriage with 1 Belgian and I Dutch man. The Dutch man was rather hyperactive and never stopped talking. He wore white tracksuit bottoms, flip flops, a white t-shirt covered in dragon pictures topped off with a very large golden Buddist monk necklace. The Belgian man looked like an Arnold Swarzanegger wanabee with a sleveless leather waistcoat with nothing underneath. He spent the night farting and Rachel was very pleased to finally leave the train.
Visited the Chengdu Panda reserve this morning. It is the main Panda breeding reserve in the world. We had to arrive early as the Panda's eat all the bamboo before 10am and then fall to sleep. This is the province where the most wild Pandas still live in the bamboo forests of the mountains. Approximately 1500 Pandas still live in the wild. And did you know that there are red pandas? They look like Racoons with long tails and red coats. We watched some of the adult Pandas arguing over a piece of bamboo and they were making very cute noises, they resembled little children. We also saw some baby Pandas and one fell backwards down the hill as he was pulling a piece of bamboo by mistake. Craig got very carried away taking photos.
Craig has been acting very bizzarly tonight, he decided he was going to do a bit of keep fit exercise in the middle of the pavement whilst out for a walk. Strangely nobody took a blind bit of notice!!! He also had fun yesterday when we went clothes shopping for me. He would normally find it very boring, but amused himself by talking to all the shop assistants in Mandarin using his phrase book. He said it was the best shopping trip he had ever been on with me!

Xian and the terracotta army

Close up shot of infantry!!!!
Vault one-one of the many rows of 8000 warriors.
The horses of 2 carriages rebuilt by joining lots of pieces together.
The famous bronze chariot.
Latest wedding fashion in Xian! What do you think Jamsie and Cath?

Been in Xian for 3 days and not done a lot-had a well deserved rest after being so busy in Beijing. Visited the terracotta army on the public bus-8 Juan for 1 and a half hours (about 50p). Rather a rickety bus and the windows sounded like they were going to fall out. After dodging an overhead crane balanced across a pre war wagon extending half the length of the van front and back and without any escort and a wagon full of chickens we finally arrived at the terracotta army. There were 3 vaults of warriors to see and the buildings encasing them were very impressive.
By the way, we thought we'd escaped the bad weather and found the sun, but unfortunately not! It has drizzled ever since we arrived here!
We visited the muslim quarters within the city walls which was quite an experience-big frying pans steaming in the open streets, dodging tuk tuks and mopeds. A mixture of kebab houses and market stalls. A nice atmosphere.
Next stop-Chengdu and Chonquing to catch the local ferry down the Yangzi for 3 nights to Yichang to see the 3 gorges.