2007 - Asia - Day 9 - Xi’an, China

Facts about Xi’an: • Xi’an is the oldest city in China • It borders the Gobi desert • Near the airport are 18 tombs of 200 AD emperors • 8 million population • It is the capital of the province in the NW part of China We had a buffet breakfast at 7:30, and left for the zoo at 8:30. We saw several adult pandas and one 7 month cub. He was asleep in a tree and some workers came and pulled him out of the tree and gave him a ball to play with. He was so cute. They then took us to an art shop and several people bought items there. Although the prices were 5x what we could get elsewhere. While we were waiting outside for people to finish making their purchases, Michael Rust showed Mark and I where they were having an animal show. We saw a goat climb a ladder and stand on a vase with a monkey doing a handstand on his horns. We also saw tigers and lions roll over and walk on balls. Very cool! After the zoo, we went to a hotel for lunch. We then went to the airport and flew to Xi’an. Once in Xi’an, we drove to the wall of the city and climbed the tower. Mark and I also got rented bikes and biked along one edge of the wall. It was so fun. We then went to the place for our evening show and dinner. It was a big stage with all of our tables in front. We heard musical presentations while they served us dinner. After dinner, the show began. It was fantastic. Beautiful costumes and dancing. I had been feeling achy and sore all day, and needed to take ibuprophen to keep going. That evening, mom got sick and was up most of the night. We have had police escorts while here in Xi’an. They told us it was to help us navigate through the traffic??