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We’ve moved on…

…to Xi’an and deep into Han territory, heartland of the Chinese majority and the terracotta army.

The Ball rolls onwards
The Ball rolls onwards

To my surprise, we’ve found a hospitable, vibrant and cosmopolitan city full of life and colour. And, as always seems to be the case, the individual people are peace-loving and friendly, despite my preconceptions derived from my experiences with Uyghur and Tibetan folk. Perhaps it is only collectively that we discriminate so cruelly against one another.

Anyway, the mission for tomorrow is to secure boat tickets to Korea from the CITS, see the sculpted warriors, and catch our onward train to Beijing – for which we only have hard seat tickets. I pray that we can get upgrades to a sleeper carriage when we get on the train.

And (at 3.30am) so to bed…

Written by on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2002

5 comments on this post

  1. In the continuing spirit of intranational cooperation that is washing over World Cup training camps of many countries…….can we have a proper fight between you two please. That or one of you to fly home casting expletives at the other.

  2. I hard-seated from Xian to Beijing – easy! Then hard-seated from Beijing to Kaifeng – easy! And then hard-seated from Kaifeng to Shaghai – easy! Actually, they were all nightmares so hope you got your upgrade – good luck!

  3. Tim: I think we’d both love to oblige… but it seems that we keep encountering so many futile and longwinded clashes with beaurocracy that we have little energy left to expend on squabbling between ourselves. See Phil’s latest posting for the story of how we tried and failed to complete the last leg of our journey on the surface of this planet.

    Gersh: Phil and Tim hard-seated from Xi’an to Beijing – the lucky lads. Tim slept in the luggage rack for half the night, while Phil ahd the relative comfort of a twin seat all to himself. I, on the other hand, played my injury trump card and sequestered one of the two beds that Rob had managed to blag out of the railway staff. Easy.

  4. Rob (in Shanghai) May 29, 2002 at 3:07 pm

    Still feeling a little guilty about that but hey, gotta get my beauty sleep!

  5. Rob (in Shanghai) May 29, 2002 at 3:08 pm

    Hey – Is zat the piccy I took in Xiahe? Cool!

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The Ball 2018 left England on 25th March 2018 and travelled to the World Cup in Russia.

The Ball 2014 kicked off from England on 9th Jan 2014 and headed to the World Cup in Brazil.

The Ball 2010 left England on 24th Jan 2010 headed to the Opening Ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Ball 2006 travelled from London to the Opening Ceremony in Munich, Germany.

The Ball 2002 was carried 7000 miles across Europe and Asia to the World Cup finals in Korea & Japan.