Before we get on the train

Today, or I should say tonight and tomorrow morning, we will be on the overnight train from Chengdu to Xian. It's raining outside so we're not in a hurry to go out. We're going to stay in our rooms until it is time to check out (12 noon) then we'll store our bags with the concierge and go out for some of the afternoon. There are more sights to see in Chengdu but none of them are major enough to warrant seeing in the rain. Our need for boots for the children is becoming more pressing as it has been snowing in Xian. The main problem is going to be finding something for Jade as we haven't seen anything other than fashion boots in her size. There is a shop with hiking-type boots near the hotel so we are going to go back there and see if we can get something for Jarrah at least.

Health-wise we've been going very well so far. Jade had a mild case of diarrhea after our visit to Guigang but she got over that quickly and it didn't affect the rest of us. We are being very fastiduous with our hand washing and we are using hand sanitising gel that we brought with us after each hand wash. It's a bit of a pain but worth it in the long run. So far we haven't had any sign of a cold or flu. I have prescription antibiotics and a host of other medicines to cover that should it arise. I hope we don't have to use them.

Jarrah is having some problems with his mouth in the form of mouth ulcers. He is prone to this sort of thing when he travels. We brought Kenalog for this and yesterday bought some salt for him to use in rinsing his mouth. He's also getting a new tooth in his top jaw and has discomfort from the wiggling of the baby tooth and the movement of the new tooth. This last year has been a big catch-up year for him with teeth. He lost 5 baby teeth during the year. He's got 6 more to go so I'm not surprised that this is happening on the trip.

Jade also has some mouth problems. She's had some kind of an irritation inside her lower lip which before the trip caused a large pimple. She accidently bit it off a couple of weeks before the trip and we're watching that it doesn't reform.

I've had some minor migranes and my frozen shoulder is beginning to become more painful. Paul is just plain healthy!

We continue to be in the extreme minority as far as Westerners go. We are an oddity so get looks from people. On our first day in Chengdu Jarrah and I were trying to ask one person something in Chinese and they looked to Jade to interpret for us! Yesterday a couple of men at the panda sanctuary peered at Jade and said 'zhong guo ren' (Chinese). I said 'ao da li ya ren' (Australian) and this got some back and forth playful comments going with the men. There are many little events like this which I don't necessarily have time to write about in this blog but which are fun memories of the trip. One more I will mention is yesterday at lunch when the kids got out their 'learner' chopsticks which we brought from Australia. (These are the ones connected at the top, also called zoosticks.) One of the waitresses wanted to know where we got them and was disappointed when we said Australia. Here is a marketing opportunity for someone!

OK I will close now so Jarrah can have a go at the computer. Did I mention that in this hotel broadband use in the rooms is free? Another plus for the Yinhe Dynasty!