4-22 Xi'an - Big Wild Goose Pagoda

 This last week of our stay in China is packed full.  We got home late from Liuyang on Sunday night.  Before we left on that trip we had pre-packed for Xi'an as we left the house early on Monday morning heading to Pudong airport to fly to Xi'an.  We were picked up by our guide, Jack, and driven to our first destination - Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

Alas, there is a problem almost immediately.  You have to show your passport for everything - even purchasing tickets for tourist attractions.  Then you can go through the entrance by scanning your passport - no need for a paper ticket.  However Michael's passport number had been entered incorrectly so he could not get in.  I had already gone through - thankfully Jack was behind Michael so he could go back to the ticket counter and get it fixed.  This took about twenty minutes.  So I am standing on one side of the turn-style and Michael is shunted off to the side of the line - so other people can go through.

We all did make it into the Big Wild Goose Pagoda grounds.  There is a story of how this Pagoda got its name.  It seems there were some Buddhist monks traveling together. One day they had no meat to eat.  There lots of complaints and someone said, "I hope the Bodhisattva will give us some meat.  At that moment a flock of geese flew overhead.  The lead goose somehow broke his wings and fell to the ground in front of them.  The monks now felt guilty for their complaints causing the goose to die and have never eaten meat again.

The Wild Goose Pagoda is a Buddhist site.  The statue in front is of the Mage - Master Xuanzang.  It was originally built around 648 BC during the Tang Dynasty.

There were lots of dragons - this is a relief on a wall.

As everywhere we have gone - people like to dress up in the old costumes.

They were very amenable to pose for us.

One of the outer buildings had beautiful pictures all around the room showing the complete life of the Buddha.

The pagoda has been destroyed and rebuilt several times.  These are from a long time ago.

Another interesting cultural fact of China is that they rate everything!  Everywhere we went we were informed of the status of the attraction.  The Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relic Preserved and a AAAA Tourist attraction - that means it has a very high ranking.

4-21 Last Fancy Meal in Liuyang and Heading back to Shanghai

 Our Guide Donald had hoped to get us to see one more tourist site - Timber Lake.  I think the lion dance sucked up that time.  We drove there anyway and had lunch at this very posh restaurant on the second floor.  Once again we had a private room.  This time, even though there was a lazy Susan in the middle of the table, most of the food was served already plated and put on our individual chargers.

The appetizer

Then the specialty of the chef - the fish-head soup came out.

It was sealed closed!

What a ritual - With the chef in attendance, the three of us were to unseal the soup container.  We are each holding a piece of the tape.  On his mark we pulled the seal off in one shared movement.

The soup is revealed.

The chef serves us all soup before taking his leave.  I have to admit the soup broth was very tasty.

We were served one of the most popular dishes in China called Mapo Tofu. It is diced Tofu in a sauce made with chili bean paste, Szechuan peppers that have been toasted and ground up along with garlic and minced meat usually pork.

One course was this steak with French fries.  According to Lisa - the Chinese often mix up the types of foods in a formal meal.

A dumpling.

This was desert.  A noodle soup with fried egg on top on the left and a kind of sweet bun on the right.  Desert here doesn't always mean sweet.

And then of course we had a fruit course to finish off the meal.  I can only eat a few bites of each dish - if I don't do that I will never finish the meal!

4-21 The Lion Dance

 As we were getting ready to leave the Bamboo Forest and the Pandas, Donald guided us to the empty upstairs of a building where we could observe the lion dance through the trees.  We were too late to find a good spot on ground level.  

First the yellow lion came out.  These costumes are for two people.

Here you can see the guy at the bottom getting ready to life the guy in the front.

Then they look like this.

This team performed only on the ground level.  These guys and gals train for years.

Then the orange team - the pros - came out.

First they performed at ground level.

It was hard to catch them in this position with the people and the trees around.

It was easier to capture the whole experience via video.  The first two videos are almost 2 minutes, the last one 18 seconds.

Lion Dance 1

Lion Dance 2

Lion Dance 3

4-21 The Bamboo Forest and Pandas

 Our destination today is the Bamboo Forest - and we were going to see Pandas.  I figured it would be a big tourist attraction - and I was right.  We drove through a forest of bamboo - before ending up in a giant parking lot teaming with a million people.

There were a lot of these Panda battery cars you could pay extra for to get closer to the funicular railway that you could take up to the highest point very close to the Panda enclosure.

We stayed in the van as our driver negotiated to get the gate opened to the special parking lot a ways ahead.  We then drove up the last little ways to a parking lot that had fewer than 20 cars parked.  Then we got on a Panda car for a ride to the top.  There were some empty spaces and other people kept trying to get on - and got chased away.  This Panda car was only for special VIP's!

And off we go to the funicular.

We are led up some back steps to this platform where we were ushered into the premo spots of the car for viewing.  After we had chosen our spots - other people who had paid more were let into our compartment.

No idea what this is for - but it does entice children.

Even VIP's have to walk up the final steps.

We join the masses to view the two pandas.  It appears to be naptime.  

The second panda is down the hill on the other side - also napping.

You like his nap position?

This is their indoor play area.

We did not add our wishes here.

We then had our photo taken with this giant head of Confucius - before heading off to see a lion dance.  See next post.