After an early flight from Beijing, we headed to the hotel for a quick rest. The 2hr flight wasnt bad. They fed us hot congee with pickles on the plane. The beds in China are harder which I really appreciate since they are supposed to be good for your spine anyway.

I had a feeling there isnt much to see here in Xi'an. The city is older than Beijing with more than 3000 years of history. Theres a nice little oasis in the center of the city, Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayanta). Sometimes the story behind the structure enhances the experience. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, the practice of eating meat was not a taboo. It was hard however to find meat in the harsh weather. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk prayed 'Please give us meat to eat!'. At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that the high divine was showing his spirit to ask them to be more pious. They then established the pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence its name.

Its a good place to visit although the temple itself isnt anything extraordinary except it was built to house the first Buddhist scriptures brought to China from India. The back area is where the monks live and study. Going up the pagoda is extra money and isnt worth the view in my opinion.

We took a walk along the largest and longest city wall in China, Xi'an City Wall (Chengqiang). If you like cycling, you can hire bikes including tandem and cycle along the top, all the way round! It was a dreary day but you can see glimpses of old city being urbanized and modernization simultaneously. Its quite interesting that President Clinton had a famous moment here. Keep your expectations low however :-)


Xi'an 11/19/12