Xi’an, the city we were just in, is surrounded by a wall. Without seeing it, you really can’t imagine how big this thing is. It extends around the city center for 17 km. It would have made for a really cool bike ride around the entire city, but we just did not have time for it. It looks a bit like the Atlantic City boardwalk when you are up on top of it, except it is a ton longer and it is raised about 30 or 40 feet in the air above the city. Here is a pic that may give you a bit of an idea what I am talking about.
We got to get a great view of it from the West Gate into the city, which remains 100% in tact the way it has been for centuries. The gate was actually the official start of the Silk Road from China through India and eventually into Europe centuries ago, which is very cool. Here is a pic of Kathy and I in front of the guard building on the West Gate.
Inside the guard building today is a gift shop that had some very nice art work in it. In a corner of the room, we saw a ping pong table amid all the fabulous works of art. I made the tremendous mistake of playing a bit with Xiao Fei. Ping Pong is the national sport of China and Xaio Fei had already told us he was really good at it. He’s a fabulous athlete, a championship runner and soccer player when he was in college. He just killed me at ping pong. I know I am not very good at it anyway, but he basically slammed back every ball I hit while laughing hysterically. It was fun and funny.
When w got done, I promptly challenged him to a game of basketball. He laughed and declined ;)
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