Just a brief check-in from our 2nd stop on our China adventure - another "small" city > only 10 million population …small by comparison to Beijing with its 19 million.

We arrived yesterday morning and were able to get an early 9 am check-in to freshen up after the overnite sleeper train…..and then out to see the Terra Cotta Warriors museum…and meet and visit a bit with the "lucky" farmer who found the Warriors site accidentally when drilling a new artesian well on his farm in 1974……a site to become the 8th wonder of the world!

It is now evening and we are off momentarily to take in a traditional Tang Dynasty stage show….reportedly the best (or close to it) show of its kind in China….we'll see if it impresses us??

We have another great hotel location here at the Bell Tower Hotel in Xian; it is smack dab in the heart of the city center and is a 4 star + hotel…not too shabby for our first adventure in this remarkable country.

Tomorrow evening we take another overnite train to our 3rd stop - Chengdu….where we hope to see the big pandas…if we can awake early enough.

Cheers from the wandering crew of Sea Mist