Today's blog is by Coren Childs
Up for another day in Xi'an. Woken up at six in time for breakfast at seven and leaving at eight. We started off the day by visiting a sanctuary for many animals, but mainly pandas. The morning was boiling and it clearly aggravated not only us, but the animals as well. There were the golden monkeys, that screamed and shrieked at us from there tiny cages, the black bears that ran around their enclosures and jumped up at the bars, and then there were the pandas, which lazed around in the heat, but then again, pandas don't do much else, no matter the weather. After spending the morning walking around this sanctuary, we got lost trying to find our way out. Eventually we found our way out and met up with the rest of the group, I remember Miss Halliday cheering about how her group were first to all be there, referencing the Hogwarts- like aspect of our train by saying, "Gryffindor is first again!" Well, someone thinks their team is best.
For lunch we went to this small local restaurant for noodles, beef, bread and other delicious foods. This had to be one of the tastiest restaurants so far. We were the first foreigners ever to have visited the restaurant. We were treated like royalty! of us took turns eating the really spicy chillies, I almost died after having to climb over 700 steps, some of us tried to run to the top, I made it about halfway before having to stop due to the heat. Once we made it to the top we received the great news, everyone back down!
For dinner we went to a restaurant where we had chicken, beef and another delicious food.
After dinner the groups were split up again between those who wanted to go for a walk, play table tennis or do more salsa dancing. We had loads of fun and the night ended on a good note.
Time for another day, and another journey.
-Coren