We arrived in Xi'an on Easter Monday at 1am, needless to say we didn't start our first day exploring the city until after lunch!Xi'an is the capital of the province Shaanxi & by far the cleanest & greenest city we have been to within China. We decided to walk through the city & check out the wall of Xi'an, also known as the fortifications of Xi'an. Standing at 12 metres in height, 12 metres in width & with an outside perimeter of 13.94 kilometres, it is impressive to say the least! On top of this the wall is also considered the oldest & best preserved ancient city military defence system of its kind still in existence!
With little other knowledge than that we wanted to mount the wall we walked along the inside perimeter until we found an entrance to the top. Once at the top we were given spectacular views of the city, there is also a moat that surrounds the outside of the wall. Originally built out of rammed earth this monument was under construction during the 3rd - 11th years of emperor Hongwu's reign (1370 - 1378 AD), since then it has undergone many extensions & renovations which has resulted in the wonder we enjoyed today. During the reign of emperor Longqing it was rebuilt with bricks for the first time, something that has preserved the integrity of the structure. The brickwork is very precise, with attention to detail paramount. It is evident in the individual bricks which contain Chinese engravings. After admiring a section of the wall by foot, we hired some bicycles and rode the rest of the perimeter! Neither of us had been on a bike for years, it was great nostalgic fun & an excellent way to complete the 13.94 kilometre circuit. Tom celebrated with a few tricks and rode a good section of the wall with no hands, much to the delight of the Chinese tourists photographing us.
We spent a few hours on top of the wall riding around, taking photos, watching the world go by & having a few semi-cold beers. The Chinese really don't understand the benefits of a very cold beer vs a warm/semi cold beer. All of a sudden it was evening & time to find dinner. The food in Xi'an is on the whole much cheaper than the other places we have been. As a result we quickly found a street-side cafe that smelt good, pointed at a few pictures on the menu & enjoyed both our meals, we are still unsure exactly what it was we were eating! Noodles with something! But thats all part of the mystery. English is becoming more and more scarce, I think there will be quite a few guess as you go meals when eating out.
As we turned the corner into our hotel complex there was a man selling fruit out of a large basket, I brought a kilo of berries for the price of $3.25 AUD. My fingers, lips & teeth are now a fantastic shade of purple!
Once home and safe at our accommodation we planned out the last 2 weeks of our China holiday & booked 4 lots of train tickets. We had to make some serious decisions about what we really wanted to see & do. One month just isn't long enough, but the world is so big & there is so many other places to see.
All in all - a fantastic first day in Xi'an.
- Alli
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