I'm now in Xi'an, and feeling the sense of relief which comes from having taken on the Chinese transport system and won, and also from just being out west again. Xi'an isnt that far west really, but compared to the south where I spent the last week, it feels it - full of bustling Muslim bazaars, and very long queues to buy mutton.

However, the few days I spent in Nanjing and Anhui were very pleasant. Nanjing turned out to be full of interesting Ming dynasty remains, whilst Anhui found the way direct to my heart by being very rural, full of dialects I didn't understand, and having an illegal motorbike taxi service. I suspect in summer, it would be a tourist hellhole, but in winter I and the other student I was with for the time had it all to ourselves - picturesque villages full of butchers slaughtering cows in time for Chinese new year, bamboo forests, snow covered terraces and tea plantations. It was the kind of place that gives rise to all those stereotypical images of China, and which I wasn't sure actually still existed anymore, if it ever had.

Nanjing was a little overshadowed by the massacre - I steeled myself to go the museum - which is a shame, as it is a much pleasanter and much older city than that. The massacre though still is almost uncomparably horrific, and still so recent really. However, what was for China a remarkably good and surprisingly unbiased exhibition was a little spoilt for me by the quote on the exit by Jiang Zemin stating 'This is a good place to conduct patriotic education'. It should of course be remembered, and I am often surprised how few Europeans at least seem to know of it - but I sometimes feel it is used by some Chinese in a way I am highly uncomfortable with.

However, it feels good to be back in Xi'an, and I move onto Dingxi shortly to celebrate Chinese New Year with friends.