Today started off great because we slept in until 10, helping to recharge our batteries after the train experience. We started out with a real American breakfast (the first one since February!) and I tried to figure out the problem with the Flip. It says it's full, but it's really not really full, and I'm trying to fix it, but did so unsuccessfully for about a half hour on the slow hostel computer. So, we'll have to use Dani's came for the video for a little while. We're still doing our dancing, and we need 10 good seconds of extra footage every day for a video project we're making for when we get back.
We headed down to the city wall so we could bike around it around 1:00. It was HOT and hazy (read: smoggy), but it was something we really wanted to do. The square city wall is 14km long, so biking is the only practical way to go. It only cost 20 Yuan (about $3) to rent each bike and it was a really cool experience. We rode along past the gates, watchtowers, and sentry posts for almost 2 hours. It's really cool to see how the modern city has adapted itself around the ancient wall. We saw a traditional Chinese performance taking place in one of the squares, and enjoyed a (very expensive) ice cream when we finished. By the way, expensive is a relative term...it was about $1.50, but that's at least twice what it should've been. Here's a quick tanget to the wall conversation, the following is a very rough and quick guide to prices in China:
1 Yuan = about $0.15
Bus Fare = $0.15
Bottle of Water = $0.30
Soda/Juice (if you get ripped off) = $1.40
Tourist Priced Postcards = $2-4
Cab fare across the city = $6 (but varies widely depending on how good you haggle)
Expensive Western meal for two = $15
Entrance fee to most of the sights = $1.50 - $8 per person
Anyways, back to Xi'an. The wall was much bigger than I had imagined. It was 20 meters tall and maybe 10 meters wide at the top, and tapered down even wider. It was a bumpy ride, but you had so much space to ride around. Thank god for our Camelbaks full of water though! We were so hot, and the vendors who were set up were just dying to charge us triple!
We got dinner at the hostel and we splurged on pizzas, but they were delicious. The hostel has a nice kitchen here an the food is great. We made a trip across North Street to the Muslim Quarter after eating, and it was one of the most unique neighborhoods we had ever seen. It was pretty amazing. The MQ is a maze of small streets and alleyways filled with vendors trying to sell you overpriced trinkets and bizarre foods. In my naiivety, I expected the area to be filled with immigrants, a host of middle eastern people and cultures. Dani quickly corrected me though, and I soon realized we were still surrounded by Chinese people. Dani informed me that ages ago, Xi'an was the eastern end of the Silk Road. So, not only did people bring their goods, their food, their products, but they also brought their religion. So now there exists a small but vibrant muslim culture within the city walls of Xi'an. We visited 2 mosques while we toured the strets, which was a first for both of us. The second one we visited is the largest mosque in China. The architecture was largely of Chinese influence (made to be that way to it didn't look TOO middle eastern per gov't requests), but there were arabic signs and engravings throughout. Darkness was falling and the sounds of the city faded away around us in this peaceful oasis. As you may or may not know, muslims pray 5 times per day, and we saw the posted times outside of the prayer hall. One of them was coming up soon, but we weren't sure if it was am or pm. But, the slow trickle of men making their way inside soon became 5, 10, or 20, at a time, and it became apparent. We were fortunate to witness the prayer ceremony! It was sort of unbelievable, sitting in the middle of this Chinese megacity, listening to the prayers in Arabic, and witnessing a sort of blend of cultures not found many other places in the world.
After the mosque, we picked up some tourist t-shirts at one of the little shops, which we bargained down to less than 50% of her original price! Then it was back to the hostel for an early night before the Terracotta Warriors tour tomorrow!
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