• Chris + Elli: World Tour
    The Bell Tower, and all the women wanting photos with it
    Absolute chaos at the Muslim Food StreetElli is very happy with our findActual life size, amazing scenesDon't leave me hereStreet food market north of the city walls which Chris went to when it was 1 stand a decade ago50p beers and choose your own food to deep-fryThis was pudding - "ice powder" with every flavour of jellyCycling the city walls on a painfully tiny tandem1

    Xi'an

    Jul 24–28, 2024 in China ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Finally back to a normal pace and full health as we zoomed into Xi'an on the high speed train. 🚆

    Still kept ourselves on our toes, by leaving lots of time for the train and then arriving at Beijing West only to discover our train left from Beijing Fengtai. 😨 We fully legged it out the station to the taxi rank and somehow managed to make it across town in 15 minutes to sprint onto the train with a few minutes before it departed, absolutely covered in sweat and panicking.

    But we had a tasty train lunch and then a trip across Xi'an on the metro to our absolutely lovely studio flat just outside the south gate: it was a great location and a properly cosy place so it felt like being at home for a bit.

    Went for a walk that evening into the city - loads going on on the streets, lots of girls dressing up in Tang dynasty clothes and taking photos in front of the Bell Tower, and then a walk through the Muslim Quarter which was full on chaos disneyland with millions of people.

    Luckily a few streets away we found a fantastic Biang Biang noodle bar where you choose all your own ingredients and Elli went into a happy noodle reverie for a while. 🍜

    Next morning we had to register at the police station - usually hotels do it for you but since this was a homestay we had to go - a slightly bizarre cultural experience which took an incredibly long time. Then had a very relaxing day at home and wandered round the local street food places in the evening (this time for some more disappointing noodles - the good is great here, but there is a decent amount of mediocre too!)

    Elli went to see the Terracotta Warriors (which Chris has already seen and mercifully didn't have to run the sweaty tourist gauntlet) which was a hot and stressful experience but still very amazing and very moving, if you could elbow your way to the front.

    On Saturday we had intended to be up the city walls by 8am to do the 14km cycle before the sun got too hot - we didn't make it till 8.30 but outside the main entrances there weren't really any crowds and we hired a (very small and extremely uncomfortable) tandem to go round it. The wall is a really serious bit of fortification and absolutely huge, and has some fantastic views along it, as well as a few off the side. We made it round and recovered with ice cream, a nap, and later on, a fantastic discovery: a completely vegetarian Chinese buffet for 23 yuan each (about £2.50) so we're started to put back on the weight that we lost in Mongolia 😁    Read more