The city walls and dumplings of Xi'an

The old city is surrounded by a massive city wall, 12m high and 15m wide at the top. Standing on the wall gives a pretty good view of the city, but to blow a few cobwebs away some of us hired bikes to cycle on the wall. It's 14km around the perimeter in a neat rectangle with pagodas at the corners and occasional displays of battering rams, catapults, wall-scaling ladders and the like. This was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon and I came back with a glow from having enjoyed the exercise, freedom, good company, views.... or maybe I was just sweaty.

In the evening we went for a 'dumplings banquet - 18 varieties, no repeat'. Dumplings are apparently a speciality of Xi'an, dating back to when some emperor/empress/concubine demanded that the cook make something different that she had never had before (or be executed, of course). So for a hundred days the cook made different dumplings, and shaped them according to their fillings, "duck inside, looks like duck; walnut inside, looks like walnut..." - you get the idea. Sure enough, some of our dumplings were quite clearly shaped - the little fat pigs with eyes, snout and tail were particularly cute. These were little thin-skin dumplings, dim-sum style, rather than thick bready pau. Some delicious, some so-so, but well worth the experience of sampling them all. John, if you're reading this, you'd have been in dumpling heaven.

Feeling rather like a dumpling myself, I squeezed between the tables and waddled to the exit before the evening's musical extravaganza began - a song and dance show telling the story of the Tang dynasty. As soon as they started handing out the programmes, I knew I couldn't face it - the photos confirmed my worst fears. So I wandered back to the hotel - city walls are a great aid to navigation - trying but failing to find a foot massage on the way. So here I am, tucked up in bed after a lovely day in Xi'an. I only wish we had more time here.