DAY EIGHT - XI'AN; XI'AN TO CHENGDU (1 JAN 2009)

In the morning went up to the South Gate and did the cycling route round the city walls. The weather was cold and there was another New Year's Day event atop the South Gate.

Checked with the bicycle rental guys on roughly how long it would take to go round the entire wall and how fast this could be completed. The fastest with minimal stops of viewing the places around was about an hour 15 mins to one and a half hours. Typical time to complete should be around an hour 45 mins to 2 hours. I was up and cycling before 9 am and completed the whole route, with quite a few stops at some of the other main and minor gates along the way, well under 2 hours (about an hour 50-plus mins.) at a relatively easy pace and speeding up in parts where there was not much to see. Partly because of the cold weather and probably due to the early hours, the walls were quite deserted for most parts. I spent some time taking photos at the main gates (North, South, East & West) as well as some of the other larger gates. It was worth doing this round-the-walls trip because you could see the old within the city walls and the new outside of the city walls and it was also the best way to take in the city centre views from an elevated area.

My signature shot of Xi'an - I love this place!


I reached Xianyang Airport late by a whisker as the check-in had been closed for the China Eastern flight to Chengdu and the airline ground staff allowed me to change to the next flight which departs at about 8 in the evening with no additional charges (my ticket was a discount ticket with no changes allowed). I ended up surfing the net (free Wifi access at the airport) and subsequently went into a coffee bar to use their desktop computer to watch the DVD given to me by WJL. It was sort of fated that I missed the flight to Chengdu and ended up watching this special DVD, it added a special meaning to the visit which I was about to make next.

Believe in love, believe in human grace

Believe in hope that exist among us, the helpless human race

Reached Chengdu at about 9.30pm, the weather really sucks! Drizzling and wet.

Took the airport bus to downtown and located the 7 Days Inn at 梨花街 branch. This was the first time I tried this hotel chain and I was quite impressed by the spaciousness and cleanliness of this no-frills hotel, it's like McDonald's I suppose, i.e. the consistency in the delivery of its services that brings a ring of familiarity any branch you check into. It's a comfy place to be in. The downside was the constant unwarranted phone calls each time you return to your hotel room - offering "lady companion" services. At least the "caller" will disturb you only once, when you reject the "offer" on the first call. The broadband service was really good! There were vending machines for drinks and snacks if you need them. The best thing was that bookings can be made online easily but do note that this place do not accept foreign credit cards, so everything will be on cash basis including the required deposit.

Made the phone call to fixed up the schedule for the next 2 days - one to 仁寿, the other to 绵阳.

Went to check out the 春熙路步行街, as it was past 10 pm, most shops were already closed except for the food and eating places. This place is like the Orchard Road Shopping Area back home, hence nothing special worth mentioning just like Orchard Road.