"It's just like riding a bike," Elizabeth says. Xi'an was the ancient capital of China, and it has the defenses to prove it.
A nearly nine-mile wall guards the inner city, which includes the exotic Muslim Quarter, the Drum Tower, Bell Tower, a Buddhist temple and various businesses and apartment complexes.
Fun fact courtesy of Kate: The wall is actually wider than it is tall. That's one of the reasons it's the oldest existing city wall in China and perhaps the world.
A nearly nine-mile wall guards the inner city, which includes the exotic Muslim Quarter, the Drum Tower, Bell Tower, a Buddhist temple and various businesses and apartment complexes.
Fun fact courtesy of Kate: The wall is actually wider than it is tall. That's one of the reasons it's the oldest existing city wall in China and perhaps the world.
Plus, like European castles, the wall also features a moat. Unfortunately, it was under construction, so the water was drained. Essentially, it had been "de-moated."
Elizabeth and Kate didn't find my joke about that nearly as funny as I did.
We also happened to tour the wall on Children's Day. Xi'an rolled out the green carpet for the kids and allowed them to draw, paint and doodle on more than four miles' worth of paper that spanned about half the length of the wall. It was like the world's longest Trapper Keeper cover.
Elizabeth and Kate didn't find my joke about that nearly as funny as I did.
We also happened to tour the wall on Children's Day. Xi'an rolled out the green carpet for the kids and allowed them to draw, paint and doodle on more than four miles' worth of paper that spanned about half the length of the wall. It was like the world's longest Trapper Keeper cover.
The drawings of the children extended for more than half of the eight-mile length of the wall.
Wall art. As we walked along, a camera crew that was covering the festivities approached Kate.
The producer asked her if she spoke the language, to which Kate responded "a little" (I failed to write down in my notebook what that is in Mandarin).
The producer asked Kate to repeat something in Mandarin. It sounded like Kate did a great job, although none of us -- including Kate -- are quite sure what she actually said.
The producer asked her if she spoke the language, to which Kate responded "a little" (I failed to write down in my notebook what that is in Mandarin).
The producer asked Kate to repeat something in Mandarin. It sounded like Kate did a great job, although none of us -- including Kate -- are quite sure what she actually said.
Kate repeats something in Mandarin for the camera. We have no idea what she said. Kate's not sure either.
Kate in tour-guide mode. Kate then took us on a bike ride along the remaining seven miles of the wall. The sites were amazing. And the weather was just about perfect.
The biking part wasn't new to Kate. She had gone before. The new part was having a wing-man and wing-woman.
"It's fun to be in a (biker) gang," Kate said.
But we did take a loss. Not long after mounting our bikes, Elizabeth and I botched a hand-off of our 8-year-old camera. It dropped on the stone wall surface.
Initially we thought it had survived the fall. It gallantly took five more photos (including the one below). But alas, those would be the final snapshots it would take.
The biking part wasn't new to Kate. She had gone before. The new part was having a wing-man and wing-woman.
"It's fun to be in a (biker) gang," Kate said.
But we did take a loss. Not long after mounting our bikes, Elizabeth and I botched a hand-off of our 8-year-old camera. It dropped on the stone wall surface.
Initially we thought it had survived the fall. It gallantly took five more photos (including the one below). But alas, those would be the final snapshots it would take.
Riding off into the sunset: One of the last pictures our camera would ever take.
Could we finish the journey without a camera? Would an iPhone camera be enough to capture our adventures? Or would we have to turn to our iPad to take pictures?
To be continued ...
- Ryan
To be continued ...
- Ryan
RSS Feed