Day Sixteen

Xi'an City Wall

Not such an early start at all. I raised my sleepy head about 10am only to lie around for another hour. Finally got ourselves sorted we got changed & ready for the day. For breakfast we had some bananas & kiwis, they were delicious. Outside it was lovely & the sun was shining, the temperature didn't feel too cold either.

The entrance to the city wall was only to minutes away from our hostel so that was great. We paid our entrance fee to get on the wall & then we had to climb these high steps in this courtyard to actually get on the wall. The wall itself is 17km round & it runs right around the whole of Xi'an so we would get to see the place from high up & all in one big bike ride!

Once on the wall we had to find the section where we could hire the bikes. Walking along the wall we passed some tower features which are part of the wall, no doubt we would be seeing more of them as we cycles around. Yeah we had found the bike hire spot, we paid our fee of £2 each for the bike hire & that meant we had 100 minutes on the bikes & to cycle around the whole of Xi'an. We had to pick our own bikes out of a bad batch, none of the bikes where in great condition. Andy grabbed a typical mans style bike & as he got on the peddle sounded like it was going to crack & fall off. Well my bike had more rust on it than I can describe but at least my brakes worked or so I thought. Both our bikes had little baskets on the back so we took off our jackets & threw them in the rusty baskets before darting off & razzing around like lunatics! It was great!

Right along the wall the floor was bumpy with really uneven bricks. It was nice though because the bricks had Chinese writing engraved in them, we didn't have a clue what it meant. At different sections of the wall there where ramps & we were racing to get up them only to peddle down so fast - it was like being a kid again, apart from my bum beginning to hurt.

Surprisingly there were quite a mix of people on the wall & some had decided to walk around but cycling was much better fun. We got to the first turn on the wall & it stretched for miles & miles. At this part of the wall there wasn't anybody around so we peddled as fast as we could until our legs hurt, we would then let the bike do the work & see how far we could go without peddling. In sections of the wall where square sections which we were also cycling around.

The next turn we came to we had seen a group of older Chinese men that where cycling along - with them all staring at me sobI started to wave frantically at them like I was some kind of retard, Andy kept telling me not to encourage them but I thought it was hilarious! Riding further along the stretch & we came to all mad decorations. I think that all the stuff was off the floats used for Chinese New Year - the reminded us off the illuminations like in Blackpool. Some off them where proper random & almost freakish, we did take a few photos off them. At this point because we had stopped the older Chinese Guys had caught up so we sped off again.

With that strip completed we raced around the next corner. At this point my bum had gone numb from the rusty old seat off my rusty old bike. We had reached a set of public toilets where Andy done his business & I washed my hands & stretched my legs off the bloody old bike. Back on the rust buckets we strolled down bits of the next part as I was getting tired & starting to feel the effects. We came to a more busier part of the wall & Andy was racing ahead & I just leisurely followed but not too far behind. All the way around the wall was plenty of benches if you wanted to sit, relax & enjoy the views, just like one Chinese lady had decided to do with a nice book. Until Andy picked up speed & cycled past her at top speed, getting up really close & shouting hello in her face. I was behind trying to keep a straight face as well as pretending not to be with the western hooligan riding up front looking back at me in hysterics - the poor woman didn't know what had hit her!

The ride was nearly over, heading back we heard some lovely Chinese music blaring out from somewhere! As we peeped over the wall we could see below that there was a park area down below & all the locals where enjoying themselves out in the nice weather. As our 100 minutes were nearly up we raced to the final hurdle & handed our bikes back. That was the best £2 ever spent, a proper barrel of laughs. Heading towards the wall steps where we had come up to the wall we stopped to buy a drink & some ice-creams which we sat on a bench & enjoyed in the last of the sun. Down the steps & back in the courtyard we explored the surroundings grounds a little. There was a nice little garden type area that stretched all around where we had come in.

Back on the main street we were wondering what we could do next as seen as it was our last day in Xi'an. As we had only seen the Bell Tower in the middle of the city by bus we decided to take a walk there for a better look. As the weather was nice I had worn my sandals. Talk about drawing more attention to myself, everyone was amazed at me wearing sandals even though it was sandals weather - I can't get over how everyone looks at me. Some even point & run ahead in the street only to turn around to get a better look. At times I feel like a real freak!!!

We had passed many shops along the way towards the Bell Tower & in order to get to it we had to use one of the underground passage ways which takes you under the road & to the other side. Down underground there where many exits that you could take which led to all different streets. We had noticed an entrance to a shop so that drew our attention so we decided to head in. Further in to the shop we realised that it was the biggest department store we had ever come across. There where 7 different floors & each floor was massive. You could buy absolutely anything you liked in this shop & better still you could still haggle. We had to explore every floor so we took the escalators going up & up. It was gigantic & it was scary when we reached the top & looked down, it sure was a long way to the bottom. Us being lazy we took the lift back down to where we came in! I felt like we had been in there for hours.

Being annoyed & fed up with people looking at me like I was a freak show I couldn't be bothered finding the Bell Tower so we decided to head back to the hostel to rest & prepare for our big journey tomorrow. Just before reaching our hostel there was a hole in the wall food place with a little old woman serving weird sandwiches so we decided to give them ago. Inside a funny white steamed bread the lady added diced onion with chilli, bean sprouts, carrots & fried egg with pepper. I thought it was delicious & I could have eat them all day!

Back at the hostel we went to get showered & then sort out some of our packing. After our shower & more hungry we decided to eat in our hostel. We order some nice spring rolls, some chips (yum yum chips) & a spicy chicken pizza. After we had ordered we grabbed a few beers & headed in to the bar area, also making sure the staff knew we would like our food served in the bar. The staff were lovely & would bend over backwards to help even if their English weren't great! The food arrived pretty fast, the spring rolls & chips where delicious but oh my word the pizza was the hottest spiciest pizza we have ever had - no chewing was involved in eating this pizza as it would hurt & burn our mouths ruthlessly so we just swallowed.

Recovering from the pizza we had decide to have a few games of pool before having an early night. Tomorrow was going to be a long one but Chengdu we are coming.......