2nd day in Xian

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I am waiting in the Xian Airport and it is huge. My guide had never been in this area before. Much is new. There is constant construction going on everywhere, huge, high rise apartments. They look to be made of mostly cement on the outside and gray or tan. They are not adorned. And they are going upeverywhere. There are huge cranes on top of them.

In the city there will be fancy hotels and behind or next to it very humble streets and shops. It is fascinating to look. This morning the power went out over the whole city and was still out when I left. It was getting hot in the hotel. They did have a generator so the elevators worked. But in the streets all the shops were dark except for an occasional fluorescent bulb on. The traffic lights still worked.

Yesterday my guide did not realize that I was supposed to have a bike ride on top of the wall, so we went back in the heat of the day. It must have been in the nineties at 2pm when I started out. I don't think the bike renters thought I could do it.

I learned all about the introduction of Budhism to China from India. It is very interesting. That is a picture inside the Temple area. On my camera I captured a special ceremony as up high monk was there and all the local monks were together chanting with him.

The Forest of the Stone Tablets are ancient huge stones that record the best calligraphic words. They were made so that when things were copied there would not be mistakes made. They now put pap up and make rubbings of them. Only the most famous calligraphers were commisionedto do the work.

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Photos

Wild Goose Pagoda
Budhist
Temple