(DIMITY) After travelling largely through rural areas we arrived in the largest city we had been in for some time - Xian. A historic city, home of the Terracotta Warriors. It also marked the beginning of many long train trips. I was quite surprised at the quality of the trains and 24 hours on a hard sleeper certainly makes for good vege time. Our Polish friend, Marcin, whom we met in Sichuan and a student in Xian was good enough to show us around some the lesser known parts of the city. This included some tiny, dark back alleys filled with Chinese food vendors. Here it is possible to buy a bowl of noodle soup for 6 jiou (or 12 Aus cents) and risk the possibly dire gastonomical consequences - of which Marcin could speak of from personal experience! The Terracotta Warriors was definitely a highlight. The scale of the tombs is breathtaking and the skill required to craft the warriors is truly impressive. The obvious complexities of excavating the site and "rebuilding" the warriors is taking some time and much of the site is still awaiting restoration and even excavation. Against our good judgement we joined a "tour" to get to the warriors. This tour included visits to a number of "historic" sites including a rather gruesome new museum with terrocatta figures depicting 2000 year old Chinese torture methods - although Paul did seem to take quiet a few photos here!

From Xian we trained it to Beijing. Our hotel was a 15 minute walk though old alleyways (and smelly toilets!) to Tiananmen Square. Our first tourist attraction was Chairman Mao lying in state. He is obviously still one of the most popular men in China judging by the huge line of Chinese who line up and silently march past him on a daily basis. If you are feeling particularly patriotic it is possible to purchase a bunch of plastic flowers and place these near a memorial plaque. The flowers are then recycled ready for the next influx. We were most impressed by Mao's pasty appearance and look forward to comparing with our next preserved commie dictator, Lenin, in a few months.

(PAUL) In Beijing we contacted an old friend of the Muttons, Liu, who spent a year in Western Australia in 1988. It was great to meet up again, and he hasn't lost his good sense of humour. Liu personally showed us around Beijing, and it was a highlight of our time there. Unfortunately we also came to realise that we has missed out on the "best" bits of the Forbidden city by not paying the full entrance fee! .With Liu and his family we also indulged in the favorite Chinese pastime of good eating. In one day we had two banquets! Our taste buds were tingled with delicacies such as Peking duck (which I highly recommend), donkey, cows stomach, kidneys and many other delicious but not so exotic dishes.

(DIMITY) Our other great adventure in Beijing was a visit to the Great Wall. This was one of my must see places. Thanks to Paul's touch - which involved camping on it in a turret! - I can say that I truly experienced the wall at it's best. It was peacefully quiet. We slept with a full moon, and woke to the sound of singing birds. Our perfect morning was rudely interupted when the first person we met while walking was a Chinese man wanting to charge us for walking on "his" part of the wall. Naturally we did not want to pay this fee having already paid a sizable fee on entry. A battle of wills ensued. He insisted (in Chinese) that we pay, and we made it clear (in English) that we wouldn't. He didn't agree, and we ignored him and sat down to enjoy the view. He sat down with us, we back tracked. He followed. Eventually we gave him the slip in one of the turrets and climbed down the wall. He spotted us walking cross country so Paul marched down the valley, palms covering eyes, shouting "We do not see your Wall!" while the Chinese man shouted from the ramparts what we imagine were Chinese expletives. On our arrival at the village we were met by a security officer. Somehow our Chinese man had got back before us and we'd been reported! Carefully we explained our complaint, which he fully appreciated, however to keep the peace (largely between him and the locals) we paid the entrance fee for one person. Ironically the locals resolved to avoid any future problems by installing, the next day, an informative sign on the wall. So folks if you ever visit the Great Wall and see a sign stating something like this "Here starts the Jinshaling Wall please pay the entrance fee" it is our fault!

(PAUL) We left Beijing on another train, and after 24 hours arrived in Zhongwei. This place is on the edge of Inner Mongolia, and the start of the Tengri desert. Here we decided to go and see "The Desert". Mindfull of Dimity, I resisted my inclination to go for a week, and we hired a guide, camel driver, and 4, two-humped (Bactrian) camels for two days. It was pretty interesting and amusing for me in many ways. I have got some great video of Dimity, far behind us, desperately trying to "giddy-up" her camel after it sat down amongst the dunes with her on its back. But I actually think Dimity enjoyed herself, and she won't forget it for the scars she now carries from when her camel fell down the dunes (while still tied to mine by its nose!). (DIMITY'S NOTE) The camels nose is fine.

 (PAUL) Walking around the dunes at dusk I found a few old Mongolian artefacts in the sand. I read that Genghis Kahn was killed by an assasin nearby (and in revenge the Mongols anhilliated the entire population). Nowadays though, the entire population is Han Chinese. I kept one of the pieces, and in Mongolia I'll try to find out what it was used for. So the trip ended fine, it was enough for any unseasoned butt, and a few days later we lost the "I've-just-been-on-a-camel-for-two-days" walk.

The last place we are visiting in China, before we pass through the mountains on to Kyrgzstan, is the westenmost Xinjiang "Autonomous" Province. The native people here are as Chinese as I am, and it is full of ruined silk-road cities, beautiful Swiss-like mountain scenery, and LOTS of desert! Stay tuned, and keep in touch (we still can't view the site so don't know if it is working!).