Xi'An city wall bike ride

What can I tell you about the wall? It was built in the 14th century. It is 12m tall and 12 m wide at the top (wider at the bottom). It is almost 14km to ride around.

Xi'an now spreads further than the wall encompasses but it is still a behemoth.

We decided to take the challenge and go for the bike ride around. Although each side of the wall has an exit, you can't just leave your bike at one of them as they take your passport as security (or 200 yuan).

Well, I can tell you that the side with the biggest gate and the one the tourists go to has the most worn and potholed path. The path is paved with bricks that are about 2 foot wide so there are some pretty serious potholes.

There is lovely scenery of rooftops along most of the ride, the traditional Chinese sort. You are far away from the street noise including honking, yelling etc. Away from bad smells. Spud had charged ahead to get in by the hour mark (each additional 30 mins = 5 yuan) but Adam and I took 2 hours. They didn't bother charging us though.

You can also have tandem bikes. There are plenty of toilets, drinks stops along the way and also a museum inside the wall showing you sections of old wall and photos of progress.

This is definitely something unusual that I would like to do again.