I can understand the romanticism! I think I mentioned previously, when I went to Xi'an I had felt sort of disinterested in a lot of the tourist-y stuff we had done there. Compared to my time in Chengdu where I spent all of it with those born in the city, we spent Xi'an being led around by professional tour guides (who were wonderful for the record, though I've never been a huge fan of the big tourist-y sort of experiences). The highlight of our trip to Xi'an for me was a moment where I walked off from our little group of tourists and found myself in a small neighborhood - it was purely by accident but I just wanted to leave the busy night market in the center of the city and find something new! I wasn't expecting just 2 blocks over to find a lovely calm neighborhood filled with the bustling life of every day experience just calmly existing. It made my heart warm and is still one of the most memorable experiences I had from the summer I spent in China in 2019. Of course, my miniscule time there pales in experience to yours, but I appreciate the ability to reminisce. Thank you as always!
I can understand the romanticism! I think I mentioned previously, when I went to Xi'an I had felt sort of disinterested in a lot of the tourist-y stuff we had done there. Compared to my time in Chengdu where I spent all of it with those born in the city, we spent Xi'an being led around by professional tour guides (who were wonderful for the record, though I've never been a huge fan of the big tourist-y sort of experiences). The highlight of our trip to Xi'an for me was a moment where I walked off from our little group of tourists and found myself in a small neighborhood - it was purely by accident but I just wanted to leave the busy night market in the center of the city and find something new! I wasn't expecting just 2 blocks over to find a lovely calm neighborhood filled with the bustling life of every day experience just calmly existing. It made my heart warm and is still one of the most memorable experiences I had from the summer I spent in China in 2019. Of course, my miniscule time there pales in experience to yours, but I appreciate the ability to reminisce. Thank you as always!