Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
Mate, after a huge month of Travel Poding it and putting memories to keyboard about my travels seven years ago it was time to get the hell out of my apartment and finally begin the 'Beers Noodles N Temples' Summer Adventure.
 
Though I've tried to plan, I've failed. I don't know how many times I've actually sat down and tried to actually plan some sort of path way from Xi'an back to Shaowu I have actually come up with nothing. In the end I actually thought it best to simply forget any plan what so ever.

So in the end the only real 'organised plan' was to fly to Xi'an to meet my Xi'an/Australian family and spend as time with them as possible and to then allow life to take me where it does.
 
So far life with a pack on has already taken its first step, that of joining my 'family' and taking a journey with them to Luoyang tomorrow. Train tickets have been organised and we shall set off early tomorrow morning.
 
Today has been a great day, after waking I finished packing and caught the mid day bus to Wuyi Shan. The bus dropped me off outside the airport which I wasn't counting on so I was several hours early. I had my eyes closed and was listening to my MP3 so I had no idea that we had gone though the part I wanted to hang out in for a few hours.
 
Bugger!
 
I headed into the airport to grab a coke and sit and read for awhile but when I found out it was 10 Yuan for a coke I decided it was time to leave and headed across the road and paid 10 Yuan for a coke, some green tea and a huge bowl of Yangzhou Choafan (friend rice like back home). After lunch I headed back to the airport and showed the girl my three Yuan second can of coke. She gave a giggle and gave me the thumbs up as we both know she doesn't set the prices. After checking in and getting through the security check 'without' having to hand over yet another forgotten pocket knife I boarded my flight. As I don't usually fly during the day it was great to see the fluffy white clouds below me and take a heap of pictures of them to show Joyce who has never flown before.
 
The flight was probably the smoothest flight I've ever had.
No turbulence what so ever!
 
Xi'an, once the capital of the Middle Kingdom and the largest city on the planet was also the beginning of the Sik Road. At present the population is around six and a half million people and the city is still full of ancient treasures dating from the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties.
 
I've visted tis city several times over the past severn years but this time it was only to be a short stop over.
This time I meant business!
Family Business!
 
I arrived at Xi'an airport around seven thirty and was met by Aussie Terry and Eve. You have no idea how good it was to see them again. We all hugged and hugged. I was so happy. They are the first people I 'know' that I have seen in nearly three years. We cabbed it back into Xian and once I saw the Mc D's sign near the Bell Tower I knew what I had to do.
 
It was time to begin the 'Travelling ElcheapO Coffee Fix'.
I even threw down some burgers for dinner.
 
Once again I found it really strange to be around so many foreigners. It seemed as though every second person in Mc D's was a foreigner and every one of them was diverting their eyes from all the other foreigners. Yep, back to the 'I'm the only foreigner in this place' mentality'  After dinner we all walked back to Eve's parents house.
 
Once out of the Ming Dynasy City Wall (AD1368 - 1644) I tried to remember bits and pieces from my stay here seven years ago.
Nothing!
 
When we had arrived at the apartment complex I stayed in seven years ago I continued to try to remember.
Nothing!
 
When we finally reached the fifth floor and walked into the apartment, I found it exactly the same as it was in the picture I had posted on my 'old blog' a few days before leaving for Xian. Eve's parents then came out to say hello. WOW! It was seriously like they hadn't aged at all. How awesome it felt to be in their apartment again and how beautiful if it was to see them again.
 
They were so full of smiles and I was so full of big smiles!
How lucky am I!
 
We all then sat for a beer and a catch up. Mar Kettle (my Mum) rang to say hello and to make sure I had landed safely. After saying a quick hello to Terry and Eve she headed to bed (Australia is two hours in front of China). After a few catchup beers Terry and Eve walked me to the hotel they had booked for me and we happily said good night until the following morning.
 
I sat up until gawd knows what time watching some insane religious horror movie where a large part of a town had begun to change an eleven year old girl into a devil child. Strangely it was in English but the picture was very bad. On another channel was another insane horror film about some lady turning people in to dolls. Strangely, the picture was great but the language was in Chinese.
 
HHHhhhmmm, one can never win here in China!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
________________________________________
 
The soundtrack to this entry was David Gilmour.
(The singer and guitarist for Pink Floyd)
The album was 'About Face'