xian: awesome

gosh darnit. i am so SO sorry for not updating, but i've been bikeriding my ass off and writing a travel article so my downtime is very valued at the moment.

i'm currently in xi'an, the capital of shaanxi province (a city of millions). this trip to the big smoke has happened a little prematurely, we weren't supposed to be due here for a few more weeks... but i've come down with this mystery illness (not severe don't worry) which has resulted in me not being able to keep my balance while riding my bike, and fainting on the side of the road. so we've temporarily suspended our riding and come to xi'an in search for an english speaking doctor.

xi'an is a really, really awesome city. one of my favourites so far... everything a girl could want - great shopping, great food, starbucks, haagen dazs icecream... i'm sounding really superficial at the moment, but i think i deserve this indulgence - we've been travelling through some very poor and under-developed places of late and i'm missing city life incredibly badly. [if my writing seems a tad shit tonight, it's because i'm distracted by this fantastic internet bar soundtrack which features a mix of disney theme tunes, mariah carey, whitney houston, celine dion, toni braxton - all the great crooners]

yesterday, we witnessed a disaster. ok, so we didn't actually SEE the disaster occur with our own eyes, but we drove past a few hours after it happened. a whole section of a city street was cordoned off, with a massive crowd, police cars and what not. a ten-storey high GIGANTIC section of scaffolding had collapsed outside a building being constructed, killing at least five people. we must have ridden past when they were cleaning up the carnage... utterly awful. i took photos of the disaster, but i don't think they do the scene justice, nor do i believe it's good of me to post them, so i'll refrain from exploiting their misfortune any further.

on a slightly cheerier note, we found a great backpackers hostel where we've been spending quite a bit of our time. OMG they've got an ENGLISH BREAKFAST FRY-UP on their menu - which i've been craving for a few months now. haven't purchased said item just yet... but god i'm looking forward to getting my mouth around some bacon (have been mostly vegetarian for the past seven months - maybe that's why i can't balance on my bike, lack of iron or protein) last night we had a piss-up with some cool swedes. and we ate a KICK ASS margharita pizza in the hostel too (worth mentioning because china has MANY pizza places, but very few good pizzas).

xi'an is incredible, i love it.

signing out