Xi'an

National Day disrupted our travels in many ways, but in Xi’an it was a blessing. Due to poor planning on my part, I did not make hotel arrangements far enough in advance, so all of the cheap lodgings had been snapped up by the time I started looking. I decided we could use some “luxury” in our lives, so I started cruising the hotel sites. Many of the cheaper rooms were also already booked, so I decided we might as well go for a four-star room.

After checking a map of Xi’an, I discovered that the city was divided into two sections, the Old City and everything else. One of Xi’an’s great landmarks was an ancient city wall that had been completely rebuilt, and this wall, laid out in a nine-mile rectangle, encompassed the Old City. I decided that we should stay inside the Old City, so I searched for hotels within those boundaries, and finally settled on the Grand New World Hotel, a nice looking four-star hotel that cost a little less than $100 per night. We booked for two nights.

It turned out to be some much needed western comfort! After checking in, we discovered that we were on the Executive Level, the fifteenth and top floor. The bathroom was heavenly with a separate tub and shower and marble tiled floors. The toilet was completely modern and we could even put our toilet paper in it (you usually have to put your used toilet paper in the wastebasket because the plumbing can’t accommodate toilet paper). However, this bathroom had no sign about not putting toilet paper in, and the first night, I couldn’t even locate a wastebasket in the bathroom, so I tentatively flushed the paper down.

Everything was plush and clean. Two drawbacks though, the bed seemed no softer than any other bed we had slept on, and the outlets had strange configurations so that I could not plug anything in--I had left my vast array of adapters in Chengdu as we had been living off only one, which did not fit in Xi’an. As a result, our computer time was drastically cut.

Since we had arrived around noon, after a brief rest and a long lunch at the hotel restaurant, we decided to go out into Xi’an. One of the things I had wanted to do was to visit the City Wall, which I heard you could either walk in three to four hours, or bike in one hour. Kinsey seemed lukewarm to the idea, but came along.

We couldn’t manage to get a taxi…a common plight in every city, so we asked the concierge what bus to take and managed to get to the South entrance of the wall…it was after all massive, so we couldn’t miss it!

After paying the entrance fee, we climbed to the top and looked around. The City Wall was actually how I imagined the Great Wall to be…very wide, you could have two lanes for cars…and well maintained.

After some searching we found the bike rental, which had two options, single bikes and bicycles built for two. Kinsey and I both preferred single bikes, so we fought our way into getting a couple of bikes--single bikes were in short supply that day. The bikes were old and pretty trashed. The seats were not adjustable, having either been welded or rusted into place. I managed to get a girls bike with a fairly low seat for Kinsey, but my bike’s seat was way too high, so it took me a while to figure out how to comfortably stop. After securing our purses in the wire baskets, we were off.

It was a glorious day, comfortably cool and overcast, but not threatening rain. Many people were riding bikes, but once we pushed off, the crowds thinned and riding was easy.

We took it slow and easy, avoiding potholes, and just enjoying the ride. It easily became one of our top experiences so far. Along the way, we stopped for drinks, to check out some mock catapults and weaponry, shopped, took pictures, and enjoyed the view of the city below. Bike riding has fast become one of our favorite China experiences. If you go, don’t miss it!

A view of the city from the wall.

Here's a close up of the local McDonalds. Notice the Asian man's face on the building. Who is he?Perhaps a Ronald McDonald clown is too freaky for a foreign culture...

One of the four main gates along the wall.

If you don't want to ride bikes, you can take a tour bus along the wall.

Towards the very end of our bike ride, we came upon crowds of people gathered by the South entrance. Various groups of seemingly ordinary Chinese folks were performing busker-style, although no one ever asked for money. A group of mostly middle-aged women performed a type of dance with paddles and tennis balls, sweeping the paddles around without dropping the balls; old grandfatherly types had a act with Chinese yo-yos; several groups had elaborate costumes and performed dances with a small band. I later found out that it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, a celebration mostly marked by people buying and eating moon cakes. Whether or not the performances were going on because of the festival, or whether it was just a common occurrence on a Friday night in Xi’an, I couldn’t tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

Afterwards we just wandered through the town a little, stopping for dinner, and then tried to find our way home again on the bus. I cannot for the life of me, manage to get taxis unless it is from the airport, train, or bus station. Getting one off the street seems next to impossible. As a result, we’ve been walking a lot, and of late, trying to figure out the buses. We managed to get home on the bus and had a great first day in Xi’an.