Wall riding in Xi’an.

Nihao folks!

The Chinese city of Xi’an is 100%, mandatorily, necessarily, must-visit. Why am I being so emphatic? Because of just one of its tourist attractions…

The most awesome tourist attraction of the city, to me, has to be the city’s fortifications, which are kind of like Xi’an’s Kremlin. The bonus for us was that we got to ride some cool bikes there. These were just perfect for tourists already pretty tired of all the walking before we even got there. Before the bikes appeared though, we got in some of the regular ‘walk and snapping’ first. Just as well – snapping ain’t easy on a bicycle; and there was plenty to snap:

For the curious among you: the map of the walls. ~14km along the perimeter.

14 kilometers with no ups and down, all along good solid paths (wall-tops), and with no altitude sickness: a walk in the park on the wall…

However…

We came upon these here bicycles for rent. Surely not… I mean, that’s… like taking the elevator (at KL-HQ!) down from the second floor to the first (grrrr). Just how easy can life get sometimes? But we liked the look of these bikes – especially the ones with the cool plastic three-spoke wheels and disc brakes. That was it: we had to have a go!…

We raced around the top of the wall, stopping regularly for photo ops. Hadn’t ridden a bike in ages. Never ridden one in China. Never ridden one along the top of an ancient city wall :). But I’d do it again as it was great fun!…

Finally! The first corner. Just three more to go and we’ll be back where we started…

The biking + the views all around + the clement weather + hardly any other tourists = bingo!

I was in a particularly good, meditative mood cycling along the wall, but some of the contrasts between the views to be had looking into the interior of the walls and outside them grated a bit and spoiled that good mood. I decided not to dwell…

More contrasts: outside some sides of the wall – clearly poor, run-down districts; outside others – modern day progressive China!…

I was surprised to see a swish residential development being constructed inside the walls. I was expecting the usual listed-site status where strictly zero new construction is allowed. How wrong we sometimes are with our assumptions :).

A super bike trip. Unforgettable!

Oh, and if even the leisurely cycling is too much for you (EH?!), you can take this here little buggy:

All the conveniences you’d expect:

We got round the whole perimeter in about 90 minutes. Need to get into this cycling thing a bit more. The time that can be saved – for checking out more touristy sights. Hmmm.

The city center:

And that was that. An unexpectedly unusual – and exceptionally excellent – afternoon. I mean, in what other city in the world can you take a bike ride along the top of a 14km ancient city wall some 5–7 stories high?…

Therefore: Xi’an… just in case you’ve forgotten… Yes – it’s emphatically must-see! Don’t be lazy; get on over there at some point. You won’t be let down, I promise!

But there’s more from Xi’an still to come – but it’ll have to be next week. So stay tuned, and have a nice weekend!…