Allans Abroad: Day 5 X'ian cont.

quickly I have some internet ...

right where was I ...

oh yes, the city wall.

This is where we learned about 'China-rules' (okay only this might be an Allanism) which allow you to flout rules, laws, regulations etc. in favour of doing just whatever you want to do. you have to be careful when you apply the China-rules ethos but the locals are, by necessity, experts. So for example 'road rules' is an oxymoron. Lane markings/pedestrian crossings are mere suggestions, moped riders do not wear helmets, traffic lights are just pretty decorations etc.

On the ancient X'ian city wall this bell was rung to alert defenders when the enemy threatened. It's 300 years old. See that fence line? China-rules say that if you want to ring the bell you move the fence closer to the bell so you can reach it. When Henry (our X'ian guide) said go ahead you can ring it, us Aussies took a skeptical backward step, but Henry simply moved that barrier and rang the the bell, no worries! Cue shocked and slightly nervous Aussies waiting to be escorted away from the precious artifact by scary artifact police (nope. none of them even blinked)

From the top of the wall we engaed in a name-that-vegetable competition whilst looking down on these local markets like gods on high. See the roller shutters up above? they're homes. The Government wants the owners to move out to the country but they are holding fast in the this prestigious position inside the ancient first ring of the city.

We then put our extensive agrarian knowledge to good use identifying the many veg offered at a traditional hot pot lunch. I appreciated that markets-to-table segway, nice bit of tour guiding Henry.

As an accompaniment Henry introduced us to Chinese liquor. There’s no flies on the Chinese when it comes to their liquor, this is Tai Bai and at 50% proof is not the strongest liquor in their bar. I had that thimble-sized cup full – nearly set my hair on fire, no match required! Our tour buddy Graham liked it though, he took the bottle with him – I am impressed with his sophisticated palate and drinking prowess.

MGM is always teasing me about the amount of libraries we visit whilst AllanAbroading so now I like to sneak library visits in when he's not looking. A pagoda is a building that originally housed books (aka library). So I'm claiming a visit to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda as a library visit even though the books are all gone. Thousands of years of careful collection and curation of the world's knowledge and art burned in the name of cultural revolution.

In the beautiful park around the pagoda you can see more China-rules as Libby embraces the 'when in Rome' philosophy.

a walk around the museum with our own guide was very special.

a walk around the park and feeding the fish then off to another meal - man o man we're eating like kings!

Today was a long day because we tacked on another tour, which is unusual for us. I’m a pretty boring tourist under any circumstances but on a fast-paced tick-the-box tour even more so. I like to get into the hotel room after the day’s itinerary of tourism must-sees for some quiet time (i.e. crochet, drawing and/or blogging). On this tour we have packed way more sight-seeing than when we’re travelling on our own, IT IS EXHAUSTING, but on this occasion Henry was so passionate about showing us his city by night that we were sold on the idea and a good thing too, here's just a few of the bazillianty pics we took tonight …