..only to be with you”

On a rather dull grey morning we headed towards the Goose Pagoda in Xian. This involved navigating our way round the city on the local bus. Confidentially we hopped on the bus no 6 and handed over our 4rmb and sat eagerly following the bus route on our free hostel map.

Getting close to the sight we jumped off, scared of going too far off route we asked a local to point us in the direction of the Pagoda. Of course this involves charades.

As we arrived there were lots of people milling around the fountain outside, we couldn’t understand why. Soon it became apparent – we had just arrived in time for the free musical fountain show.

As impressive as these things can be, the people of Xian had put on quite a show. Almost as good as the famous fountain show in Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates.

With the excitement of the show over we approached the entrance of the pagoda itself. We wandered round the grounds capturing some photos and enjoying people watching. The Chinese will never disappoint you for good entertainment.

As we reached the entrance to the actual pagoda we were stopped and asked to buy another ticket. A little fed up of the sky high entrance fees and multiple add ons at every attraction in China we decided not to go in. I don’t think we missed too much.

The highlight of the trip south was yet to come… A visit to ‘First Noodle Under The Sun’ a famous Xian noodle bar. The chef was being filmed for Chinese TV for creating the longest noodle (at 80″)

We therefore had to order the renowned long rice noodles with several dipping soups. We had great fun with the staff teaching us how to cut the long noodle using chop sticks of course.

It was time to work off all those carbs by cycling the city walls. These are the largest city walls in the world and have been completely restored.Our timing approaching the walls was impeccable, a show was just about to start.

The show was the Changing Of The Guards and was held at the South Gate. This involved nearly a dozen Chinese soldiers dressed in traditional armour and sporting traditional weaponry.

We have cycled many times on this trip but always opted for our own bikes…so we can race. However this time we decided to hire a tandem. We had so much fun flying past the Chinese who never like to build up a sweat.

Unlike the Chinese girls who sit in the back taking selfies and not cycling, Karen was pedalling as fast as John. This meant we gained good speed, which took us up those ramps and completed the circuit in less than an hour instead of the 2 hour rental period.

With time to spare there was only one thing to do.. Take selfies of us on the bikes, and attempt to take a time -delay photo on the back of the back. ( This took a while to get right!)