We had all day in Xian today before our late flight to Guilin. First we saw the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The street vendors were a real pain. they were selling these wierd plastic birds, that could be wound up and then should flap their wings and fly. The vendors kept winding them up and throwing them in the air. They were quite dangerous and 3 of my clients got hit in the face by these birds and one bird got stuck in one lady’s hair. It took ages to get it out of her hair. Anyway as we arrived at the coach, two old ladies and a man in a rusty 3 wheeled wheelchair descended upon us and started to throw the dreaded plastic birds around. I said “Boo Yau” to them but to no avail, so I asked my guide, Joe, to tell them to stop throwing the birds around as it was dangerous. A major row erupted and the old ladies were shouting and swearing in Chinese. My guide shouted back and then suddenly the man in the wheelchair set off at a great speed and rammed his rusty wheelchait into my guide. Then hejumped out of his wheelchair and started running on the stumps that were his legs. He ran fast and started hitting Joe with his umbrella. I couldn.t believe it. In a way it was quite comical. My clients offered to help Joe and fight off the mad man but I told them to leave well alone and let joe and that guy sort it out among themselves. The last thing I wanted was my clients being arrested for fighting with a disabled madman. We managed to board the coach and Joe managed to detach himself from the street vendors and join us on the coach. The door was still open and Joe was still arguing with those crazy vendors. I told the driver to close the door and drive away. Finally, we made our escape.
That was enough excitement for one day. Lunch then the Yangling Tombs – a kind of mini Terracotta Warriors., before our next internal flight to Guilin.