on to xi'an

xi'an china is most famously the home of the terracotta soldiers. the soldiers reside about an hour bus ride outside of the city in an open countryside surrounded by pomegrate groves and rice fields, but there is so much more to see in xi'an than our guys in dusty grey.

xi'an was a long time capitol of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) and it has the last remaining fully in-tact city wall in China. it is also the end of the silk road that came across China from the west. via that route came buddism and other Western cultural ideas, people and goods.

we stayed at the Xiang Zi Men youth hostel near the south gate of the city - the biggest and most famous of all the gates. the hostel is a beautifully restored building in the style of Ming dynasty. one of the cleanest and well-run places i've ever stayed in (bar a 5 star hotel).

after our overnight train ride to arrive in xi'an (we shared a 4 person soft sleeper compartment with our 3 yr old Ding Ding, his mom and his grandma - he was so cute, very chatty and went to sleep early ~ whew!) we checked in to the hostel, ate and showered then headed for the south gate.

in the court yard of the south gate a stage was set up for some type of cultural show in celebration of the Chinese National Holiday. there were guys dressed in traditional Tang dynasty warring wear, another group dressed in Tang dynasty courtyard outfits and lots of other people milling about. it looked interesting, there were seats available so we sat down for a watch. first the guys in uniform did a military re-enactment. then this troupe of Chinese yo-yo performers came out and did an amazing show for us with their toys. after that the Tang concert group performed their music. (see below for photos). it was as lot of fun and i took about 150 photos just to get a few good ones.

after that we wandered to the top of the wall and pushed our way to the front of the line to rent some creaky bikes to ride the circumference of the wall. 100 minutes for 40 yuan. pretty good deal! we set out on our bikes for about a 7 mile ride. the road on top of the wall is made of large bricks which makes for a bumpy ride and the seat post of my bike felt as though it had bumped along this journey so many times that any time it threatened to come up through the middle of the seat. i sat lightly and rode hard.

it was a beautiful day - and it was one of the most fun things i have ever done in China. see below for all our photos.