May 31
Xi`an
and Beijing
5/31
- In the morning, we visited the ramparts.The inner city is
surrounded by a wall, rivaling the
Great Wall in fortitude, if not in length.
Evidently, you can
ride a bike around its entire
periphery. We walked for a while, and I stopped to take a few
more pictures of my guides and driver.
We then returned to street
level to walk through a shaded
shopping area with many stores and kiosks. My driver helped me bargain
for an apron and, later, to
find a small card deck of the Terra Cotta warriors for my other
daughter. We then strolled
one of the major business streets in town, ocassionally stepping into a
store to look for books. I
found a cook book and an airplane book in English. We then visited a
renowed dumpling restaurant
where despite being overstuffed I managed to choke down some more of
the
tasty food.
As we return to our car, we made one final stop at another pagoda,
which featured a live performance of bells, strings, and dancing.
After the pagoda, we made our way to
the
airport. I was able to check my bags but learned that my flight to Beijing was delayed. I had my guides
call ahead to alert my pickup that I would be late and then bid them a fond farewell.
It turned out, while waiting for my
plane, that the sign listing flights was missing my flight. I also grew suspicious when my gate
emptied of people. It turned out that a gate change had been announced in Mandarin but not in English.
I proceeded to the new gate and had an uneventful flight to Beijing, where I was picked up by my
driver and driven to the Capital Hotel.
The hotel is centrally located and is
rated three star. In order to obtain five stars, a hotel must be rated by the government, but other
levels are self rated. Because the Capital was recently renovated, I judged it to be at least four
stars. I skipped dinner that night, but did try to use the business center, which seemed to
have trouble accessing Google. So I gave up.