Bike Ride Around the Old City Wall

The downtown area of Xi'An is surrounded by an old city wall that is almost 14 km in circumference.  And, you can rent a bicycle at the top of this wall and ride it all the way around!

So obviously this was on my list for this visit.

First thought a couple of matters.  I started out the day with a hearty breakfast - graanola, yogurt, fruit and a green tea.  (I've been cutting down on my coffee intake and am down to about 2 or 3 cups per week.  Which I still enjoy immensely, by the way!  Sonya thinks I should quit cold turkey for the rest of my trip, and start out the Italy visit with about 5 shots of espresso.)  I also had some chicken noodles at the mall:

Then I switched hostels.  It was just too noisy at night, and I found another that I thought would be quieter in the evenings.  (Ed note - it is!)  So I packed up and moved.  It was a move of about a half block, but I was carrying all my kit, so any further and I would have called a cab!

In the afternoon I rented a bike (40 RMB) and cycled around the whole city!  It is quite an impressive wall and affords a good view of the city both inside and outside the wall.  Inside is mostly older building and outside mostly newer highrises, and there is lot of construction everywhere!

And of course, because China:

I have no idea what the heck that is supposed to be, but there are 2 of them on different parts of the wall.

By the way, in Beijing the Great Wall in Chinese is called "Chang Cheng".  The Xi'An city wall is called "Cheng Qiang".  Thanks China for not being too confusing.

Afterwards I stopped by "bar street" for a beer and some fries:

Sometimes I just get a craving for western food!  This little snack was about double my entire food budget from the previous day.  Yes, this street is definitely targeted to foreigners.

Finally I was invited over to a real Chinese house for dinner!  My friend Ethan who has been helping me with my arrangements and plans in Xi'An, and his wife Yahong and child Momo (I really hope I got those names right!):

We went out for coffee after dinner and I helped Yahong with her homework.  She manages the flight attendants for China Eastern Airlines and they are updating their announcements for different situations.  I helped review the translations and correct the big mistakes.  Who would have thought I'd be doing English homework in China!

I'm suffering from "painfully slow Internet" today, so tomorrow I'll try to post about my visit to the Terracotta Army, meeting my teacher Valarie, and my first Biang Biang Mian!