8
Location: Xi'an
Our early morning began with the train attendant lady yelling at us in Chinese, slapping our heads/feet and pulling our blankets. After finally arriving in Xi’an, we met our tour guide, Daniel, who had tons of fun facts and stories about the city. We arrived at the “City Hotel Xi’an” and rested up for the 9-mile bike ride on the Xi’an City Wall. In the 110-degree heat, we pedaled with all of our strength to make it to the end. Alex, Olivia, Maggie, Lily, Angela and I decided to be daring and bike the whole wall. After making it to the halfway checkpoint, the heat got to us, and we desperately asked one of the golf cart drivers to take us back to the East gate. I exclaimed, “Our friend here (Alex) is about to faint!” (Even though this wasn’t true). However, to our dismay, we did not want to spend 30 Yuan for the ride…so we quickly decided that we all “felt better” and continued pedaling. Finally, we made it back to the East gate of the city wall and headed to lunch. We were more excited about the cubed ice and Western toilets than the food. During our calligraphy lesson at the museum, our teacher tried to give us positive feedback on our writing, but we all knew what she meant when she said, “That one’s special.” After a nice break from the scorching heat, we shopped at the market on Muslim Street. The long day ended with a yummy meal at a noodle restaurant. We shared stories about our various ski trips and funny family experiences. It was everyone’s favorite day so far! Can’t wait for the 12-hour train ride back to Beijing tomorrow…
Zilana