Wild Goose Pagoda Buddhist Temple

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Geo: 34.27, 108.9

This is the first day we got to sleep in; yeah!! Our wake-up call was at 8:30am with a 10:00am departure from the hotel. It is also our lightest touring day, but a killer traveling day. Our bodies were finally catching up to the 13-hour time change and we were getting on a schedule.

With all the traveling we have done, no breakfasts could match the spreads at our Chinese hotels. They had everything imaginable, both Western and Asian dishes. If you want sushi and wonton soup, it was there; or if you want a waffle, omelet or pastrie, you got it!

After our check-in bags were under the bus, we headed to the Wild Goose Pagoda -- now a seven-story "leaning" pagoda. It was originally wood and built on this site in the 600's during the Tang Dynasty. The emperor sent a monk to India and he brought back the Buddha religion. It ended up being the primary religion of choice for many centuries. The pilgramage to India has been immortalized in the Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West".

Jo gave us the background of the Silk Road, which started in Xi'an and went west, trading Chinese silk for goods from the west, especially horses.

The pagoda complex is made up of many buildings besides the main pagoda. Most of these have statues of different Buddhas. One had a hundred arms and one hundred eyes, the Buddha of Mercy.

Brennan finally got his knife/sword/dagger! For four days we had not walked by one he did not pick up. The pagoda gift shop had one that was marked 890 yuans (almost $150). The quality is very good. We kept saying no and the price kept coming down. At 500 yuans, Dave and Brennan left the shop. The sales woman followed Sue out with the final price of 300. She was happy and Brennan was elated! He actually slept with it that night (in the sheath of course)!

At the temple, we bought three sticks of incense and placed them in a giant incense burner with a hundred others. There were as many Buddhists as not and they were offering prayers, incense and candles in front of the Buddhas.

After leaving the temple area, we had about an hour to wander the surrounding shopping area. This is an upscale neighborhood in the city of Xi'an. There were actually some single-family houses and duplexes compared to high-rise apartment/condo complexes. We walked up a pretty, wide avenue to see a statue of the monk who brought the Buddhist scriptures to China and several other Buddhist statues and fountains.

About 1:00 we were back on the bus and headed to lunch in a shopping mall. This is the first day that we would not have three large meals because dinner would be on the plane to Hangzhu (Hang Jo).

After lunch, we were given the choice of either paying an entry fee to go on top of the old city wall or staying down and either shopping or walking around the wall. We decided to walk around below which was a great choice. The area is parkland between the moat and the wall. There is exercise equipment throughout and areas with raised stones that the locals would walk on with soft shoes to stimulate circulation. Brennan was able to run, play and exercise with the locals and had a great time. There were also a few musicians playing instruments and singing to add to our enjoyment. As we left the wall to return to the bus, we bought some popcorn that had been popped over coal. It was okay when warm, but later turned to fish food!

One of our group lost her passport in the Beijing Airport and miraculously it was found and turned in to the Lost and Found. Jo made arrangements for it to be sent to the Xi'an Airport freight area. We stopped there to pick it up before checking in around 4:00 for a 6:45 flight. The only snafu was that we had two lithium camera batteries in one of our checked bags. The x-ray caught them and we were embarrassed as we felt 1000 eyes of the others in the check-in line on us when we had to go behind the counter to open the bag. These batteries flew in that bag from JFK to Beijing to Xi'an!

After checking in, Brennan wolfed down a Subway sandwich which he said was the best he had ever had! Sue had a shot-glass-sized glass of wine for $8 and Dave $3 Chinese beer. Our flight was about 30 minutes late.

The flight was a little over two hours. They served a meal of beef and rice or fish and rice. By the time they got to us, it was fish and rice. The fish was in the shape of balls the size of marbles and was mixed in with carrots and peas in a thick sauce. The fish balls were the texture of a de-crusted slice of white bread, rolled into a ball with an indiscernible taste. It was a good thing we had a large lunch and Brennan had a Subway!

We got in and out of the Hangzhu Airport pretty quickly, but after a 45-minute bus ride to the Crowne Plaze Hotel, we did not get to our room until about 10:30pm. By 11:00, Brennan, with his sword in hand, was sound asleep. This would be a short night with a wake-up call around 6:30am and our bags placed outside our door by 8:00am.

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