We toured the classic sights in Xi'an. First, the Wild Goose Pagoda, a temple, built by a master monk during the Tang period. The temple was erected to honor the monk's mother - the same monk that was written into the fabled story of the " Monkey King". The main attraction other than the Padoga was a display room set with 8 or 9 walled panels murals entired caved in jade, depicting the life of the Buddha - "Shakyamuni". An art and cultural center was also very interesting as it provided us another opportunity to gain some historical insight on various dynasties ( Sui, Tang,Song, Liao, Jin ) during the time Xian was most prominent in the history of China.
As remarked during our 2007 (mom & daughter) trip, we found an affinity with the Tang dynasty, due to its relatively progressive and enlightened views respecting women, not to say the architecture, art, fashion and openminded social policies. We did not have time this trip to visit the Xian museum which provides much breathtaking artifacts and exhibits and offers up mythical like stories from some of the older dynasties (some of which are delightully funny yet others are wickedly barbaric -esp. Zhou dynasty).
We headed next to perhaps the oldest and best preserved fortification in China - the city walls that surround the heart of Xi'an and its famous Bell and Drum towers. It was an amazing experience itself to just mount the steps of this historic citadel and walk around the encircling pavements. For 20 yuan you can also rent a bicycle or get on a golf tolley to tour the length of the wall fortress. From up high however, it is apparent that the recent spat of condominum construction and other industry in Xian has been taxing the atmosphere - there is a permeating layer of fog/ smog that hang in the air and was especially noticeable to us as we just arrived from relative clear days in Beijing.
During our time in Xian we had benefit of a guide Li-Yeung, a recent graduate from an English College from Xian. She introduced us to the best soup-filled dumplings in the muslim quarters in Xian - see pic. This restaurant had a wide variety of dumplings, except for pork, and amazingly, the tastiness was not due to its greasiness - it was just good & only 16 yuan per steamer.
Tom and Ellen
