Xian & Little Goose Pagoda

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We left Beijing very early (5.15 from the hotel to get to the airport for an 8.30 flight because of the traffic!!) Then it was a 2 1/2 hour flight to Xian. Interesting breakfast on the plane - congee and a "Chinese Hamburger" and a boiled egg in soy sauce - loved the burger (interesting type of bread and a type of corned meat I think) and the egg but only took one mouthful of the congee - but at least I tried it.

After landing we went straight to the Little Goose Pergoda - what an amazing piece of engineering. Apparently it is build on a large ball (of what I don't know) which is under the ground and they believe that this is the reason that it has survived 3 earthquakes with only minor damage. It was built by a Chinese monk who spent 25 years in India and bought the concept back - set in lovely grounds and now houses a school for calligraphy. We bought a beautiful rice paper painting which both of us loved as soon as we saw it.

After the pergoda we went to the Xian museum - second best museum in China we were told - the best one in Beijing is closed for 2 years for renovations. It was hard to get a lot out of the museum because there wasn't a lot of information in English so you really didn't understand what you were looking at. The museum focuses on the 3 dynasties that ruled from Xian when it was the national capital. Finally managed to make a phone call back to Australia and spoke to Kat which was lovely - Matt didn't answer his phone though and we still haven't heard from him - Kat tells me he is fine but I will be happier if I get an email.

After the museum we checked into our very flash hotel (with internet that works!!!!) but I didn't have very long online before we had to go out for a dumpling banquet - absolutely amazing variety of dumplings with different fillings and I had my first glass of rice wine - very nice - could have had quite a few more of those! After dinner there was s show of Tang dynasty dancing. Another very long day but I just had to get online and publish the info that I typed on the plane in the morning. I intend to go back and flesh my stories out with a bit more detail now that I have some time to myself - so watch this space. Hopefully I can get the photos to upload this time!

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Photos

Little Goose Pagoda
In Xian