day 105 Xian 7 October Fri

 

Finally we have made it Xian but cant find a taxi to take us to our hotel - the 7 sages. We try to flag several down but none wants to stop. When we finally do get an audience not one wants the fare. We learn later that Western tourists are not well accepted here by taxi drivers, which we find surprising given the "tourist" status of the area and also our street is an area not well liked either. Great! Another secret doorway and we emerge into another beautiful courtyard area and smiles! What a difference a smile can make! It also has the most enormous bathroom we have ever seen! We settle in and then make our way out towards the city walls

Built in 1370 the 12m high walls are surrounded  by a dry moat. 14km in length and enclosing the old city, several other travellers have told us  we should hire bikes and cycle around on top. Xian in comparison to Beijing and Shanghai is relatively quiet, still lots of people but not the shoulder to shoulder squash we are used to.
Xian is one of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history and we pass by the cultural centre where there are several displays and performances taking place throughout the afternoon - tai chi, living statue installations and period costumed warriors and drummers.

 

We climb the steep stairs and walk along to the cycle depot. The girls toy with a less strenuous form of transport but are eventually persuaded to mount their tandem and off we go! 100 minutes to complete the circuit and the clock is ticking! 

 

Our bikes rattle and groan as we progress round and we develop inventive ways to stop as the brakes are there for little more than decoration! The ride  is a really fun way to spend the afternoon and gives us great views on both new and old city. As everywhere there is tremendous construction and redevelopment happening. The pace of change is more than rapid. We swap rear passengers several times throughout the trip and amuse ourselves as we trundle along the sometimes flat, sometimes cobbled sections of the walls.

    

. When we make it back to the Cultural Centre we are treated with a drumming and soldiers performance and we stand on the steps away from the masses and watch for a while. 

 

We wend our way back to the hotel, trying in vain to get a taxi and, much to Rowan's annoyance (her favourite phrase of the moment is "Can we get a taxi?), we stroll through Xian taking in our new surroundings. And yes! This lady was out in the city with her cat so it could watch the fountains in the park opposite - the girls asked!

Another city, another light show - this time complete with water fountains to music which runs every night, supposedly the largest in Asia. It is located at the Big Goose Pagoda  which was completed in AD 652 to house Buddhist sutras brought back from India. Quite fun, but a little squished!