Day 5 - Xi'an, Big Wild Goose Pagoda

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Last morning in Beijing and we flew to Xi'an, home of the famous Entombed Warriors or Terracotta Warriors. This was another major attraction I was looking forward to seeing. After touching down we of course had to have another gigantic lunch. After that we were taken to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We didn't get a chance to climb it but had some time to wander around the grounds which featured many different types of buddha statues.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/bigwildgoose.htm

From there driving to our hotel (The Howard Johnson Ginwa Hotel) I was surprised at how modern Xi'an is, I figured that all the tourist dollars coming into the city had contributed to this growth. The charming thing about Xi'an is that the original old city wall is still intact and is beautifully lit up at night. Once again we had an official dinner to go to and this one turned out to be rather informal. After eating, James from Canada got to sing and even the host got up to sing. Everyone who got was presented with flowers as a gee up so it was quite funny. A good time was had by all, The group is actually quite fun loving.

On returning to the hotel it was still early so I decided to go exploring and photo taking. I just had to get some photos of the old wall lit up. I then came across a very lively scene at one of the parks. Men were banging on these big drums and people were doing a strange sort of dance in a procession. Some were dressed up and some carried colourful umbrellas which they twirled around. The park was situated just next to the South Gate and also featured people selling things and games.

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