Wednesday 11th April 2007
Those of us lucky enough to have garnered some sleep awoke to yet more dramatic scenery at whatever o’clock (some time around 9ish I think). After the usual ablutions and packing up we finished off the pizza in true ‘Breakfast of Champions’ style and picked up our things to get off the train around midday in Xi’an, where we’d spend two days and nights before going to visit the Terracotta Warriors.
We jumped into taxis, witnessing the first organised queue seen since leaving the UK, and headed for the YMCA all desperate for a wash-and-brush-up after a 17-hour train journey... only to be told when we got there that the power and water were off and wouldn’t be back on before 6pm. Some of the group headed out on a whistle-stop tour of the sights while we opted for a more leisurely (ultimately even more so for some!) visit to the city walls to hire bikes and cycle the 14 kms round it.
After braving the traffic at the South Gate (no mean feat to cross the road) we headed up the stairs to be re-united with those of our group who’d taken the infinitely safer (and cheaper!) option of crossing at a less busy junction. We scoured the horizon for bikes, eventually settling for a couple of tandems, two singles, and a rickshaw!
Xi’an is, thankfully, simplistically set out on a grid of roads, with the main N-S-E-W all joining in the middle at a giant Bell Tower. There’s a large city gate at each point of the compass so it’s pretty easy to know roughly where you are. We were enjoying the views (and freewheeling up the ramps on the tandems) until we got to the halfway point of our journey at the North Gate, where some helpful-looking bike-hire service employee told us that the rear tyre of one of the tandems needed pumping up (not minding that the rear of the other tandem was as bald as Vin Diesel).
So, after thanking the guy we got on our way. Less than half a km later we were cycling along merrily then heard a “POP!”... and noticed the recently-inflated tyre had just burst! So while V and I cycled on to drop back the bike and get help, poor Meagan and Dave set off by foot for the remaining 6.5 kms round the city walls!
We got back to the hire centre and explained what had happened, and they radioed for help. Sow e sat and waited, assuming we’d see M&D being brought round, complete with busted bike, on one of the golf cart-type vehicles also ferrying round tourists. Instead, in a time that didn’t seem enough to have covered 6.5 kms on foot we saw them come round the corner pushing the bust bike!
Someone from the hire centre set off on our tandem to swap it with theirs, they then rode in to meet us! So we headed back to the YMCA, all looking forward to the belated chance to shower and change before heading out for the evening, some of us to the Tang Dynasty Dumpling Banquet & Concert, others off for dinner or a chance to catch up on sleep.
Got back to the hotel some time after 6... still no power or water! By this point, at the wrong end of a 17-hour train journey and subsequent 14 kms bike ride, some of us were less than fragrant, so we just went for the dry clean before heading to the banquet and concert.
The style of food and entertainment apparently dates back to the Tang dynasty (as you might expect, this being 618 – 907 AD) when it would have been enjoyed only by the Royal Family. We sat down to something like 20 different types of dumplings (boiled/fried, meat/fish/veggie, /savoury/sweet), followed by a traditional musical performance in costume. Although maybe not everyone’s cup of tea it was yet another of those things I know I’ll never get the chance to do again, so I guess I was glad to be there!
After the evening’s entertainment we walked back to the hotel, elated to see we’d been reunited with both power and water, and made our way, exhausted, to bed!
Those of us lucky enough to have garnered some sleep awoke to yet more dramatic scenery at whatever o’clock (some time around 9ish I think). After the usual ablutions and packing up we finished off the pizza in true ‘Breakfast of Champions’ style and picked up our things to get off the train around midday in Xi’an, where we’d spend two days and nights before going to visit the Terracotta Warriors.
We jumped into taxis, witnessing the first organised queue seen since leaving the UK, and headed for the YMCA all desperate for a wash-and-brush-up after a 17-hour train journey... only to be told when we got there that the power and water were off and wouldn’t be back on before 6pm. Some of the group headed out on a whistle-stop tour of the sights while we opted for a more leisurely (ultimately even more so for some!) visit to the city walls to hire bikes and cycle the 14 kms round it.
After braving the traffic at the South Gate (no mean feat to cross the road) we headed up the stairs to be re-united with those of our group who’d taken the infinitely safer (and cheaper!) option of crossing at a less busy junction. We scoured the horizon for bikes, eventually settling for a couple of tandems, two singles, and a rickshaw!
Xi’an is, thankfully, simplistically set out on a grid of roads, with the main N-S-E-W all joining in the middle at a giant Bell Tower. There’s a large city gate at each point of the compass so it’s pretty easy to know roughly where you are. We were enjoying the views (and freewheeling up the ramps on the tandems) until we got to the halfway point of our journey at the North Gate, where some helpful-looking bike-hire service employee told us that the rear tyre of one of the tandems needed pumping up (not minding that the rear of the other tandem was as bald as Vin Diesel).
So, after thanking the guy we got on our way. Less than half a km later we were cycling along merrily then heard a “POP!”... and noticed the recently-inflated tyre had just burst! So while V and I cycled on to drop back the bike and get help, poor Meagan and Dave set off by foot for the remaining 6.5 kms round the city walls!
We got back to the hire centre and explained what had happened, and they radioed for help. Sow e sat and waited, assuming we’d see M&D being brought round, complete with busted bike, on one of the golf cart-type vehicles also ferrying round tourists. Instead, in a time that didn’t seem enough to have covered 6.5 kms on foot we saw them come round the corner pushing the bust bike!
Someone from the hire centre set off on our tandem to swap it with theirs, they then rode in to meet us! So we headed back to the YMCA, all looking forward to the belated chance to shower and change before heading out for the evening, some of us to the Tang Dynasty Dumpling Banquet & Concert, others off for dinner or a chance to catch up on sleep.
Got back to the hotel some time after 6... still no power or water! By this point, at the wrong end of a 17-hour train journey and subsequent 14 kms bike ride, some of us were less than fragrant, so we just went for the dry clean before heading to the banquet and concert.
The style of food and entertainment apparently dates back to the Tang dynasty (as you might expect, this being 618 – 907 AD) when it would have been enjoyed only by the Royal Family. We sat down to something like 20 different types of dumplings (boiled/fried, meat/fish/veggie, /savoury/sweet), followed by a traditional musical performance in costume. Although maybe not everyone’s cup of tea it was yet another of those things I know I’ll never get the chance to do again, so I guess I was glad to be there!
After the evening’s entertainment we walked back to the hotel, elated to see we’d been reunited with both power and water, and made our way, exhausted, to bed!
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