Riding on the ancient city walls of Xian makes your cycling trip perfect. The wall is spectacular and cyclists can have a birds' eye view of the city. The road on the top of the ancient city walls is wide and flat. Lower the speed and you will get the real "history" feeling from the armed soldiers, red lanterns and old walls around. Taking an overlook to the Bell Tower, it is more grand and splendid with busy traffic coming and going. Or just stay your bike aside, talk with local people and listen to their singing of Shaanxi Opera. Xi'an is surrounded by the 14-kilometer-long ancient city walls. Cycling on the commodious wall, the city is all under your eyes and you will imagine about one thousand years ago, lined soldiers standing here guarding the ancient capital.
My first trip to China occurred nearly ten months earlier. It was the furthest I had ever traveled outside the U.S. This time I was more at ease in preparing for my recent departure. No longer did I need to be reminded of the long flight time, language barriers, or potential visa issues that are well documented in the records of many a foreign student visiting the U.S. I was already an experienced traveler to the Far East having logged some 18,000 miles and nearly a week's worth of tourism.
Beijing, the No.1 tourist destination of China, is a modern cosmopolitan metropolis, and a major transportation hub that welcomes visitors with gracious hospitality. As the capital of China, Beijing plays an important role in the world nowadays. It is an ancient city with all of the modern amenities a visitor could want. This city has some unique cultural aspects that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Visitors to Beijing inevitably feel overwhelmed and upon leaving Beijing always feel like there was so much more they did not have time to explore.
Everyone I came in contact with in Beijing recommended the capital city as the sensible place to pour investment funds. While I was not there long enough to view any significant investment opportunities first hand, I did come away with a better understanding about real estate investing. Initial views of China and foreign investment are quite grim, and rightfully so. This is, after all, a nation in great transition, and though gradual change is taking place, it is an old Communist guard at the helm that is attempting to overhaul a long standing tradition in the face of youthful exuberance, and uncertainty. Nonetheless, given China's booming economy and their acceptance into the WTO, this has to happen, one way or another.
In sum, China travelers are confronted with a question similar to the one that confronted northern barbarians eager to penetrate the Wall's defenses all those years ago: Where in the Wall's 6,400 km length is the best place to stage your assault? For convenience's sake, we'll concentrate our effort of Beijing-area sites today, saving for another time exploration of intriguing spots running between the Wall's eastern extreme at seaside Shanhaiguan, near Qingdao all the way to its desert-bound terminus at Jiayuguan in Gansu.
I'm always boasting about how great it is to know people in foreign lands so there's no worry about inter-city travel, lodging, communicating, and so forth. And while this is absolutely true - as meeting with my friend outside of Beijing's Capital International Airport and knowing I had my own personal tour guide to carry me from place to place was a welcome relief - setting up shop for the next few days at the Beijing Holiday Inn Central Plaza was not the worst thing in the world.
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