Smog

Chunhua to Xian
October 29th
93km (497m vertical)

Short, uneventful day riding down into the huge city of Xian. We lost a lot of altitude, so hopefully it will be warmer in the days to come. The pollution around Xian is terrible - everything is covered in a white haze. It looks like there's a bush fire somewhere.

Poor Nicole got a flat tire this morning and then lost her wallet at an internet cafe this afternoon. Stressful day for her.

My (saint of a) mother e-mailed to say that everything has been finalized with the Toronto condo that I'm renting. There was a lot of back-and-forth on the lease, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks for doing all the work Ma!

Staying in a youth hostel over the double rest day in Xian. No heat and the bathroom smells like an egg threw-up. (The water has a strong sulfur smell. Terrible!) Looking forward to that nice Toronto condo.

Its not a cloudy day...that is the smog just outside of Xian:

This internet cafe must has more than 500 computers in it (along with 500 chain-smoking teenagers):

Walking home from dinner, there were dozens of people lighting small fires on the sidewalk. Apparently, its some kind of prayer ritual: