Day 70 - Xi'an Again

Yesterday's trips out in the city ended with a rather wonderful dinner of dumplings and soup. Everyone had had a great couple of lazy days and with a week to go, conversation turned to "best meal of the trip", "worst meal of the trip" etc. It is starting to feel like the beginning of the end.

Still plenty to do though! Tintin and Deefor recced the cycling options yesterday and today at crack of dawn, nine of us were down at the South Gate for a ride.

The walls of the inner city date back to the 1300's and tower 40m over the buildings. The top is 15m wide and makes a perfect cycle track right round the heart of town. Hiring a mountain bike for 100 minutes just gives you time to do one lap of the 14km wall (or two of you are Chris ...) but you have to crack on if you take too many photo stops. (Thanks for the picture Nigel).

Xi'an is the Chinese end of the Silk Road and it was a moment to reflect as we stopped at the west gate and looked at the road down which so many caravans must have gone.

We were all glad to have started early. By 10:00 the sun was beating down and with high humidity 36C felt really hot. A quick visit to the Backpackers Hostel for fresh orange juice and milkshakes soon got us back in shape.

After lunch, a trip to the Muslim Quarter. With so much trade to the west there has been a local Muslim population here for centuries and the mosque was busy for midday prayers. It is a wonderful mixture of Islamic and Taoist temple design. The buildings are arranged along a centre line like a Chinese temple and have curved eaves and painted wood decoration but without any images of animals. Minarets are disguised as small pagodas but still blast out the call to prayer over loudspeakers. Chinese characters are replaced by cartouches in Arabic script and the last "temple" is a prayer hall facing west toward Mecca.

Day 69 - Xi'an

There is so much to see in Xi'an it is hard to fit it all on in a couple of days. The city (previously called Chang'an) was the first capital of China and is full of imperial graves etc.

The most famous, the tomb of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty who united China, is protected by a vast army of life sized warriors made of terracotta. Deefor had seen the Terracotta Army on a previous boost so instead visited the excellent Shaanxi Historical Museum
and the Big Goose Pagoda. The museum is home the Freddy, the magnificent Tang Dynasty laughing camel who is the mascot of this blog.

Labours of Van Man #8 - Fire Starter

Local Dress #11 - Mao Cap

Next stop party membership.

Day 68 - To Xi'an

From Foping to Xi'an is only a short hop (190km) so the plan is to be there by lunchtime.

The first 100km is through the same mountainous gorges as yesterday (see photo). The views and road were stunning. Sadly the rain returned with a vengeance so the exhilaration was tempered by a desire not to crash in the last week.

Once out of he mountains it was a straight run into Xi'an. Well, as straight as you can go in the chaos of Chinese traffic.

Xi'an is the ancient capital of China and is home to the famous Terracotta Army amongst other sites. We are here for two days so more on the historic sites later. For now Deefor is off to Macky D's for lunch!

Traffic Quiz

You come round a corner and find a Land Cruiser coming toward you on your side of the road. He flashes his lights. Is he:

A. Making sure you have seen him.

B. Indicating that you should get out of the way as he is bigger than you.

C. Letting you know that your headlight is on.

D. Saying hello

E. All of the above.

Day 67 - It ain't over ...

Just when the trip was in danger of turning into a long, drawn out ride to Beijing you get a great day's ride.

Like yesterday, we followed the "old" main road, the 108. Like yesterday, the road is pretty much empty as the traffic is all on the motorway which soars above us on concrete stilts over 30m high.

Unlike yesterday, the road has not been dug up and it didn't rain.

A fast ride along a wide river valley and through a well signposted city. Then up a narrow gorge with green wooded hills on both sides past small farms.

Now we are in central China the agriculture has changed. Gone is the Barley of Eastern Tibet. Now farms are a mix of rice paddies and maze. Instead of yaks and pigs by the road now there are water buffalo with huge horns. Luckily these are all tied up safely. "W is for Water Buffalo" would be very messy.

All in all a much better day though it was HOT. 35C and humid. You need to keep moving to stay cool.

Our destination, Foping, is a small town set by a river among steep hills. The peak opposite the hotel is crowned by a tall pagoda. All very picturesque though only Stephan found the energy to climb up to see the view.

Down in the town there is a dead body on the steps of the electricity company. Apparently there is a dispute between the family and the company about who should pay for the funeral and the family have put the body on the steps outside reception until it is resolved. It has been there three days so far. Four police cars are in attendance but no one seems to be getting too upset yet.

Day 66 - Making Tracks

We are into the last stage of the trip now: Three days ride to Xi'an and then three more to Beijing.

Motorbikes are not allowed on the new motorways so we stay on the "old" main roads. This is a mixed blessing. For: The trucks and most of the cars are on the motorway, so they are quiet. Against: Bits of them have been dug up with little in the way of diversion signs

The first town we got to the road just stopped and we were diverted through 10 km of mud and gravel. Not hard but messy and slow.

Then a lovely sweeping road of motorway standard with no traffic took us to the next town where, again, the road stopped. The footpaths were still there though so up we hopped and followed them to the town centre.

The next section through a picturesque gorge and pass was all tarmac and featured some nice temples. It was somewhat spoiled by rain, low cloud and wet roads.

Eventually after nine hours in the saddle we made it to Guangyuan, our stop for the night, and 350km nearer to the end.

Day 65 - Chengdu

Deefor ducked out of the tour to see the Pandas. Instead he, Toni and Iain went for a wander.

First the Metro. They are building five lines though only two are finished so far. Dead easy to use. Signs in English, destinations picked out in LEDs in the carriages, clean and cheap.

Then tea in the Ming Teahouse and a visit to Wide and Narrow Alleys for some high-end tourist shopping and lunch (including gelato).

A visit to the Taoist Temple in the afternoon ("The Tao that can be explained is not the true Tao") and then home.

After all that sightseeing and culture - Pizza for dinner. Great!

Day 64 - It's An Adventure!

A day off in Chengdu today so some of us decided to have a small independent adventure.

About an hour from the city is the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Built in 240BC to solve a problem with flooding, the works divert 40% of a major river into a series of channels that irrigate over 5000 square kilometres.

The local governor Li Bang organised the work using 10,000 artisans. They built a levee using bamboo and rock and then cut a channel through the mountain. All this with hand tools and without any explosives.

Getting there and back involved the local train service. John, our local guide, bought the tickets for us and then we were on our own.

The Chinese rail system is very efficient. The tickets show a train number, carriage and seat. The platform and carriage numbers are shown on electronic boards so it is easy to find the right place. Once on board the destination, expected arrival time and train speed are all show in each carriage.

The trains themselves run on raised tracks between vast modern stations. Our journey was just 40 minutes during which time we hit 200km/h.

John was quite worried about us wandering off on our own but we made it there and back.

In the evening we went to an evening of Szechuan opera. This included acrobatics, juggling, dance, music. It finished with an extraordinary act called "Changing Faces" in which the actors change their masks so quickly you can't see how it is done.

All topped off with a Hot Pot. Here John is putting the duck's tongues and lettuce into the sauce to cook.