First day in 古成西安市 (the ancient city of Xi'An)

I decided to just take it east in my first day in Xi'An.  I visited the Bell Tower (so named because it used to contain a large bell) and the Drum Tower (so named because ... guess) and I took a stroll along the south part of the Old City Wall.  You can rent a bicycle to cycle around the city wall, the distance is almost 14 km, so that is certainly on my list for this visit one day!

(The pics above are my various meals in Xi'An, and some shots of the Drum and Bell Towers and the South Gate lit up at night.  Did I mention the Chinese like building everything really big?  They also like lighting their buildings up at night like Christmas trees!)

I also took care of a few housekeeping items - mailed some post cards, exchanged some money, ate (!) (I had a few good meals, along with 2 beers at the hostel, and my food and beer budgets for today were each about 20 RMB).  I also realized I'd lost my credit card (at some point in the past 2 weeks, since I'd used it last) so I had to phone Royal Bank to have it cancelled.  ("Are you overseas sir?  I'm having trouble hearing you."  "Yes I'm in China."  I was also using Skype, but I didn't tell him that.)

I also scouted other hostels, because my room isn't too great, and this hostel is very loud.  We'll see how the next couple of days goes, I give these people until Friday.  (Plus the other hostel has 24 hour hot water, and my current place only provides in from 7AM to midnight.  Plus this other hostel provides a free welcome beer :-))

Another exciting part of my trip - on Friday I'm meeting up with Valarie, my Chinese teacher for the past 15 months.  I'm kind of nervous, it's like an Internet first date.  (Don't tell Sonya I said that.)

I'm also reflecting on my trip, and what I want to do over the next couple of months.  I've been on the road just over a month now, with about 7 weeks remaining.  I was planning to visit 4 more cities after Xi'An - Chengdu, Lijiang, Kunming and Guilin.  And then the final 4 days in Beijing, with a second visit to the Great Wall.  I was starting to worry that I'm taking in too much, and not really taking the time to appreciate what I'm seeing and what I'm experiencing.  I thought that the Shaolin Temple was just "meh", but it's over 1500 hundred years old and the birthplace of Shaolin Kung Fu, and even though it has become a bit of a tourist trap (seriously) there's a lot of history there to appreciate.

Not to mention the fact that my Chinese has slipped since I've left Beijing, and the daily classes.

So I'm thinking now I'm going to stay in Xi'An an extra week, and then fly (or train) straight to Kunming, skipping both Chengdu and Lijiang.  I've heard they are both beautiful cities, so it'll be a shame to miss them, but it will give me more time to explore Xi'An and Kunming, plus give me an opportunity to set up some regular Chinese lessons/practice in both cities.

Well we'll see.