Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Qingming festival here in China. Qingming is also called the "tomb-sweeping-day", as many Chinese people take this day to honor the memories of lost relatives and friends. Other than paying their respects Qingming festival is also a popular day to enjoy a day outside in the (hopefully) lovely spring weather while flying kites or having a picnic.
For us, Qingming festival mostly means having three days off this week. Therefore, we have decided to take a trip to Xi'an. Xi'an lies 10 hours away from here by train, proving yet again that China is a huge country. We will be going on a night train, in a so-called "hard sleeper-carriage". Hard sleeper carriages have rows upon rows of bunk beds, and, so we've heard, come with a minimal amount of privacy. Even though this may not sound so tempting, we are actually quite excited about travelling by train in China. It's probably going to be a really interesting experience. However, you are free to ask us again how we enjoyed it when we come back.
In Xi'an we will visit the Teracotta Army and city wall and on Friday we are travelling to Huangshan Mountains, which are famous for their beauty. We will take lots of pictures, so stay tuned for more updates!
