Day 4 Monday 29th April

We had an early start today as we were checking out of our Beijing hotel and then visiting the Imperial medical and pharmacy centre, the Beijing Zoo and then hopping on a “Bullet Train” that would take us to Xian. Our visit to the Medical centre was fascinating. We learnt all about the history of the eastern medicine and use of different herbs etc. to prevent problems. The thing that I found most interesting was that Western medicine/doctors were described as ‘Fire-fighters” and Eastern medicine/doctors were the “House-keepers”, in that the western doctors try to fight illnesses while the eastern doctors try to prevent illnesses.  After the information session we were all offered a free medical examination from Chinese Doctors at the centre. We all took this up. The Doctors asked a few questions as to any medication we may be on etc. They then asked us to poke our tongue out and took our pulse. Many of the men in our group were diagnosed with liver issues (Rob was one of these) and then of course a prescription was written up if you wished to purchase some of the medicines. I was very lucky in that the Doctor said that there was nothing wrong with me! (I didn’t give him any info about my osteoarthritis.) Many people in our group spent quite a lot of money on medicines but we didn’t. I did have a Chinese massage which was not very expensive at all and was all I needed after our walk along the Great Wall yesterday. We continued on to the Beijing Zoo and visited the Panda display. It really wasn’t that exciting and I think I would have preferred to see them in a sanctuary. The zoo itself was a little tired and many of the animals looked very sad. The weather was warmer today but the haze continued and we are convinced that it is pollution. It must be a bit depressing not to see the sun and a blue sky for several days. The Beijing station was extremely busy but we managed quite well to find a McDonalds for lunch and safely board our bullet train. The trip to Xian was very comfortable travelling at speeds of 300kms an hour. We have been in China for 3 days and have yet to see the sun. We weren’t sure at the start if it was the fact that things were just a little misty due to the weather but we have now realised that it is the pollution.  To us it seems so sad not to be able to see blue sky or the sun during the day. As we travelled in the train we watched an orange ball in the sky (the sun) slowly disappear into the mist as it moved toward the horizon. We were unable to see the sun set because it had disappeared completely by then. Arriving in Xian we were met by our next guide, Richard. Right from the start we knew we were in for some fun. He had a great personality and sense of humour. Xian is a city of 11 million people! Arriving at night we were very impressed by the beautiful lighting and the well maintained ancient wall, drum tower and bell tower. It seemed a more reserved city compared to Beijing. Our accommodation here was excellent and our only regret was that we were only staying here for one night.