For me, the best part of Xi’an was our Friday morning bike ride on top of the Xi’an city wall. A perfect, sunny morning and an easy 9 mile ride (the top of the wall is flat). Plus we got such a kick out of the tandem bikes…
So many of China’s ancient city walls were torn down over the years. Even in Beijing, aside from a small, symbolic section left in Tiananmen Square, the actual city wall is gone, so I’m glad we got to see (and drive through and ride on top of) this one. It’s enormous and daunting… cold, dark stone that has been rebuilt a number of times since the original was built in the Tang dynasty about 1500 years ago. The outer side of the wall is higher (to keep out the enemy of course) with lookouts every 20 or 30 feet, and fancy towers at every corner. The Xi’an marathon is held each November with a full, half, and 5k on top of the wall. A nice way to market Xi’an, and while I can see how running this wall would be fun… the pollution might keep some runners away…
City walls: the precursor to the gated community…
One of the gates through the Xian wall. Now THAT is a door...
Map girl...
Looks like fun...
Art shows off his cruiser style... the girls are still young enough to forgive him for this...
My riding partner for the first half...
Great place to ride a bike...
We stopped along the way for peeks...
This is what you see when you peer outside the wall....
Peering inside you see the original Xian...
All around the wall are archways like this for traffic to pass through...
Some areas are quite charming...
Should you run the Xian marathon and find yourself in need of a Belgian beer...
Another view "outside" the wall...
The scenery inside the wall ("old" Xian) changes throughout the ride...
The girls were smiles all morning...
Pit stop for ice cream at the halfway mark...
...and a lecture from Professor Svenson.
He could go all day...
Still life of mop leaning on door...
One last shot of the wall ride. Thats Art and Cece up ahead; see what I mean about having it all to ourselves...
After the bike ride, we spent the afternoon at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Da Ci’en (“mercy and kindness”) Buddhist Temple. This was my favorite temple to date… quiet, austere, clean, meditative… all of those things you want in a temple, plus lovely gardens all around…
Cheap, fast lunch at McDonalds on the way to the pagoda. At this point, its day 6 or 7 on the road and we need to keep them hanging in there with us... so we bribe them as necessary, though mostly they are very agreeable travelers...
The Big Goose Pagoda... (it really is leaning to the left...)
Greeting Buddha...
Click to enlarge and notice the swastika on Buddhas chest: an ancient religious symbol. In Asia and India, the swastika is a positive symbol meaning goodness and well-being; weve seen it repeated in decorations in temples all over China.
The grounds of the pagoda and temple are among the prettiest weve seen in China...
White stone...
Impromptu tea...
Sunshine and springtime air add to the appeal...
Here, a statue of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang...
Quiet...
Austere...
Peaceful...
Best kids in the world...
Again...
"Artie, get the pagoda in the shot..."
Inside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda are stairs that wind up to the 7th level. We climbed em all.
On the way up was this man doing red ink rubbings of Buhddas feet... (more swastikas on Buddhas toes...)
View of Xian from the pagoda (note cranes in the distance; the number one thing happening in Xian right now...)
From a higher floor...
And one more view. A big city. Over 4 million and growing...
So long Xi’an…
(ps: apostrophes are still disappearing from the photo captions… I know this, but can’t seem to fix it…)
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