Up-to-date and up to Xi'an

Over the remaining three days or so in Bangkok, the group met as much as it could, but people were leaving and by the final nights there was just Zoe, Helen, Charles, a new recruit from another group, Tet, and me. One memorable night, Helen, Zoe, Tet and I found a student bar and got drunk while playing 'Shithead'. Then a nightclub where a crazy Thai woman, who had spent six months in Dublin, loved my accent and dragged us off to a cool nightclub in the middle of nowhere. There were a lot of UN outcasts there, so much so that I felt like I had walked into some lost Graham Greene novel. Good night. Eventually though I got my flight to Beijing and now here I am, no longer in Beijing, but Xi'an.
Two days ago a mixup with taxis saw me in the Summer Palace with Deirdre. The weather has been incredible and the day was excellent. Just how big this place is, I cannot exaggerate.
Yesterday we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Maybe in time I will write more on these. Last night we had a nighttrain to Xi'an and now I must fly back to the hotel to join the others for dinner.