Xianing the Wall

Yesterday was the first day in Xi'an, and it was quite cold and cloudy. I

I got out of the hostel early and not sure what to do, I walked over to the city walls which surround the old city.First I passed a park, and saw some middle-aged women doing some strange dance, with kids following them.

Then, I passed by some eateries. One had a scene where you would sip something (looked like some type of soup), and throw the dish in a pile and smash it. There was a huge crowd doing this and watching it.

I paid roughly $5.00 and walked up to the old walls. I walked past the old watch towers, and admired the views, and read the signs which described the history of the walls, built during the Tang dynasty, and restored over the past 50 years. The signs described the purpose of the guard posts, and the different weapons which we're used at the time. I also saw folks pose for wedding pictures. The total length of the walls is approximately 8 miles, but I only walked about half of that (roughly 4 miles). As one can imagine, walking the wall got boring after a while, as the view remains the same.

So I exited off on of the viewpoints, and walked around the city. I found yet another Wal-Mart, which I found some q-tips and deodorant, which I couldn't find the day before. I found cheap places for food, and had some spicy sandwhich with onions, peppers, and some type of meat. I walked back on a pedestrian mall, and heard dance music coming from one store, and saw large crowds. I walked in and saw all types of fruits. Apples, oranges, pineapples, melons, and every other type of fruit imaginable. And one guy was giving out containers for this fruit. After taking all the fruit, a guy would slice it all into little pieces, and give out toothpicks to eat them. There was a large crowd waiting for this. So I took my fruit to this guy and he sliced them up. That was my dinner-a gigantic container of fruit-and it was very good.

I then walked back to the hostel, and had a few beers with some people there.