Xi'an and back

Hello loyal blog readers. Hey, are there are any loyal readers? How about just readers? Or am I writing this for myself!

Well, at any rate, we are back in Beijing after a trip to Xi'an - the city was wonderful, but we had a few (three, to be exact) problems.

The first one was the morning we left when, for reasons not at all apparent to anyone, I chose to walk into a wall in our room while trying to go to the bathroom in the dark. No major damage, other than a lot of blood and some consideration of whether a stitch or two would be necessary. But, the bleeding slowed down, so we left about 6 a.m. for the airport. After a flight of 1 hour, 40 minutes, we were in Xi'an, a little burb of about 7 million Chinese people. (Of course, I called Joshua both before leaving and on arriving to get updates on the Badger game - probably only one of several people calling from China for that purpose).

We went immediately to the Terra Cotta museum, where we saw the excavations which were truly amazing. About 1,000 life sized warriors have been unearthed and many repaired after being discovered by a farmer in 1974 (the original farmer - or a reproduction, was at the museum signing copies of the coffee table book, which we bought to avoid repeating Susan's failure to do something similar in London in 2000).

As I said, the museum was great, but problem #2 occurred when my digital camera card was full and when I put in the replacement, the camera could not detect it and would not reject it. And, Betsy, it has nothing to do with the power button, which I have now distinguished from the shutter button. Fortunately, I have the pictures I really want on the previous card, but since we can't get the new card to eject, those will be the only pictures we will have.

After the terra cotta museum, we went on a city tour, then to dinner and a spectacular show.

Problem #3 arose this morning. After breakfast, having some time before we left, I took a walk and found a park where all these Chinese people (no shortage of them here!) were walking, jogging, doing tai chi (sp?) and other exercises. When I passed the ping pong area, I was invited to take part. How could I refuse? So, I played this Chinese woman, who was obviously playing down to my level, to the delight of a number of Chinamen. But, going for an errant shot, I slipped and heard a loud crack in my leg. I refused the offer of Chinese therapy and limped back to the hotel. A pediatrician on our trip told me that it was the biggest leg he has ever seen - OK, no, he didn't say that. He said that it could be a pulled muscle or I could have cracked a bone or both. I can walk, with difficulty, but my plans for another run tomorrow are scrubbed. Sigh. I may have to get this checked out by an adult doctor when I get back.

Otherwise, all is well. We are really enjoying this interesting country. Tomorrow, we are on our own and plan (if I am mobile) to try to help support the local economy. Hmmm, maybe I should claim immobility, true or not...

Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Gregg and Susan