We were lucky to be able to book into our suite (a bit of luxury while in Xi'an) straight after our train arrived shortly after 9am! I have attached pictures of the suite so you can see how "fancy" it was! To be honest, we have been able to stay in some very nice hotels (like the suite but without the extra living room) for less than £25 a night! The main problem with the suite was that we got constant cold calls offering varying services - we unplugged the phone in the end!
Today was occupied with a lazy meander around town. We took a look at the Bell and Drum Towers (very similar to each other, one was used to mark dawn with bells, and the other dusk with drums) and took in a drum performance at the Drum Tower. It was a shame that you could get an artistic photo of Starbucks and the Drum Tower into one shot! The views from the top of the drum tower were really very nice, and there were lots of big drums to look at!
We also found a local street-food merchant where we could buy spicy flat breads (very much like Indian Parathas) very cheaply. They came in very useful for day trips, touring and train journeys. This also meant that we had one main restaurant meal today (which came to a total of £4!!) This was at a local family run place which I think we will return to tomorrrow.
