11,641 steps. 6 miles of tandem biking. 7 stories of stairs. To say we got our exercise in today would be an understatement!
We started off at The City Wall of Xi'an, with a bike ride around its perimeter. This gave us a chance to enjoy the cityscape and get an idea of how hard the city must have been to infiltrate. Ice cream post-ride was a must.
Next we hopped on the bus to go visit the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, built during the Yonghui era in 652AD. Within the walls were various rooms dedicated to Buddhist worship. A bell tower use to produce measured tolls that would mark out monks' daily routine. Our tour guide at the pagoda, a Buddhist, walked us through each building and then gave us a brief show on Chinese calligraphy. Then: the climb. 237 steps later (or that's what I counted anyways) we arrived at the top of the pagoda to view the city from the crossroads of two major city streets. It sure was worth it!
And of course, what would this blog be without pictures of the food?
Lastly, we went to the Muslim Quarters, where we did a walk-through of an upper-elite living space of a Muslim family. We also got to see one of the only mosques open to visitors. Tonight we'll be exploring the night market and hopefully get some really good food on a stick. Pictures to come!