#adventurecam

Today was a travel day. Flew from Xi'an to Wuhan and now I'm on a bus. The pit stop we're at has Wi-Fi. It's looking like the boat I'm about to spend the next five days on won't have any Wi-Fi at all and I'll be entirely out of touch with home. Sigh. Hopefully not, though. I can dream. In summary, everyone should send me lots of messages so my phone explodes when I finally get home. I promise it will totally make my day. It's raining out here, but it's supposed to be nice tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Another day another summary. This morning we went to Starbucks! Ok, so technically we were supposed to go to a pagoda of some kind, but our bus parked near a Starbucks and I'm getting a little homesick and half the group came to Starbucks with me and its the same but different and in summary now I own a Starbucks mug from the other side of the world. I didn't actually get any coffee, but my tourmates inform me it's very good. Also being a gajillion km away from home does not stop me from being aggressively defensive of baristas. Ah well. Some things never change. Anyhow! We piled back on the bus and went to a terra cotta factory where we learned about how the warriors were made. There was also a furniture store/museum upstairs. I have previously complained about my increasingly unrealistic desires in my future housing? Furniture museum did not make it better. And then finally, we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. It rained, my boots are not waterproof. I took a whole bunch of pictures. It was pretty cool. You'll see. Very big. Fingers crossed that nothing exciting happens this evening. Miss you all, I haven't been hugged in six days. Pretty sure I'm going through cuddle withdrawal and that's why I'm homesick. Sigh.

When I said today wasn't over, I wasn't kidding. At the hotel our dinner was in, Grandpa fell on his way back from the bathroom and fell face first on the marble floor Blood everywhere. But he only cut his nose a little and he's totally fine. But I completely panicked and was useless and mostly just stood there patting his shoulder and trying not to cry. My assessment is that I'm not mature and responsible enough to travel as the head of the pair. Or maybe just not when the other person is a 90 year old who is one of your favourite people. I don't know, I'm a little shaken. But he says he's fine.

Oooookay, technically the day isn't over, but this bus has Wi-Fi and so! This morning we checked out and left the hotel at 730. Our first stop was at a fresh water pearl place where I did not buy anything. And as I'm basically the only person in my age group I had to keep all of my pearl necklace jokes to myself, so expect those when I get back. Sorry. Next stop was the summer palace which I think is leading to me having unrealistic expectations about what my future home could look like. But also look me in the face and tell me I shouldn't have a man made lake with an island on it and a little house for sex and tea and card games? Right? Live the dream, guys. Anyhow, then we went to the airport and flew to Xi'an which is where I'm writing from. It's a much smaller city, but way dustier or smoggier, I can already feel my lungs protesting. But we're only here for a couple of days. I have taken roughly 500 pictures so far. So the tentative title for my China scrapbook is "Cam! Stop Taking Pictures of Plants and Buildings!" I am worried I'm going to run out of memory space. But I've got two phones and 338 more pictures left on the camera. Maybe I'll do a bad picture cleanse tonight. Anyhow, love you Vancouver, miss you, can't wait to kiss you, etc. Bonus points to anyone who got that reference.

Stuff I Did Today 1. Saw the Great Wall. Holy hell it's big and it was lovely and everything is so green. I took about 7 million pictures. 2. We want to a copper painted pot factory. Very nifty, I bought a present for my mum. We ate lunch upstairs. I am one of two non-picky eaters in my tour group. So far as I'm concerned, everything is delicious. 3. Rickshaw ride through Old Town. We stopped at a house and learned the history of it and there were bunnies! 4. No sunburn. We move onto Xi'an tomorrow. 8 more days until I am home.