Xian - Outside the City Walls

After my detour to the sports store I arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum just after 12. The ticket office was closed until 1 pm for lunch. I decided I would see if I could find something that wasn't Chinese for lunch. I had no luck so headed back towards the museum. When I got there the queue was down the street. I couldn't believe it. Anyway I joined the queue and surprisingly it moved rather quickly.

The museum is a large scale museum which has collected 370 000 unearthed historical relics. Entrance to the museum is free, however remember to take your passport to prove you are not Chinese! Shaanxi History museum is great for a stroll through ancient Xian covering prehistory, Zhou to Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Xian is one of the few cities in China where the old city walls are still standing. The walls are 12M high and form a rectangle with a perimeter of 14 KM. The entrance price is Y40.

I hired a bike and rode around the perimeter. The cost to hire the bike was Y20 for 100 minutes and a Y200 deposit. I was a little concerned how I was going to be after the bike ride as the last time I rode a bike was in Laos on the wrong side of the road into on coming traffic. At least here I was a little safer. The only traffic I was going to come across would be walkers or other cyclists!

You can of course walk around the top of the wall if you have some hours to kill. The view is great and gives a different perspective looking down on the city.

Walking down the stairs I saw a lady who looked familiar. I started to wave like a lunatic. Then I started running down the stairs because I wanted to reach the bottom at the same time. Still waving frantically I had 3 Chinese men behind me saying, "hello, hello, hello." Finally I grabbed this ladies attention. It was indeed Sue Wilshire. I worked with her husband, Tony, at the bank. Sue gave me a kiss and a hug and asked if I had seen Tony. Which of course I hadn't. She believed he had headed to their tourist bus. So off I went looking for him. As I got outside the gates I could see him across the street.

It was surreal seeing someone from home after being away for almost 6 months. Tony and I caught up that night for a few drinks.

The Little Goose Pagoda is in the grounds of Jianfu Temple. It was founded to store sutras brought back from India. The top of the Pagoda was shaken off by an earthquake in the 16th century, but the rest of the 43 M high structure is intact. I climbed the Pagoda which was well worth the view although it was raining. The entrance fee was Y50 which also included entrance into the Xian Museum and the opportunity to explore the grounds.

The Xian museum is a miniature version of the Shanghai Museum. Still worth a look around though. There are 130,000 pieces of collected culture relics.