A couple of more scenes from Xi'an

Small Wild Goose Pagoda

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda (not to be confused with the Big Wild Goose Pagoda) and Buddhist Temple was one of our stops the day after visiting the Terracotta Warriors. It's from the Tang Dynasty, about 1500 years old. It had some lovely grounds; I actually found the adjacent park of more interest than the pagoda itself. But I do like this photo of the pagoda, so I'll stick it here so you can admire it too.

Dumplings

After visiting the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, we went for lunch at a restaurant specializing in dumplings. There were 28 courses, all dumplings, and all different. (Or maybe it was 27 dumpling courses, followed by a fruit platter.) Invariably, our Chinese meals ended with fruit; most often, a plate of watermelon; occasionally watermelon plus orange slices.

As an aside, the tour organizers gave us two or three meals at so called "Western" restaurants. Apparently, they felt that we needed a break from the steady diet of Chinese food. At one restaurant, I remember our tour director telling us that the cook had never been in the West, but had learned all his recipes from cookbooks. And it tasted like it. I didn't enjoy any of these "Western" meals ... Also, on one free eveining, we went to the Japanese restaurant at the hotel we were staying at. It was annoying, because they barely spoke English, and although we knew the Japanese names of the dishes we liked, the staff didn't. They also served the tea luke warm, for some reason, and when we asked them to refill the pot they brought us water. Not the most enjoyable meal.  I would have been much happier if we had had Chinese food all the time ... it was always good and plentiful. 

Back to the dumplings. One surprise was that several of them were shaped to represent the food that they contained. Like the head of a pig, for example. Or like little ducks. Here's an example:

Xi'an City Wall

The main reason why tourists go to Xi'an is for the Qin mausoleum with the warriors. But the city wall is also extraordinary. It dates from the Ming Dynasty, about 600 years ago, and (considering all the wars and revolts that China has had to endure) is in a very good state of repair. It's a rectangle, 40 feet high, 60 feet thick at the bottom and 8½ miles in perimeter, with defensive towers every 400 feet or so. They run marathons around the wall every year, that seem to be well attended. And one thing I liked is that you can rent a bike and ride around the wall. They've built wooden ramps to allow the bikes to go up and down the staircases at the various towers.

Here's a picture, taken from the top of the wall near one of the four main gates, and looking along the length. This also gives you an idea of the smog that plagues the country. And they say that winters are much worse than the summers, because of all the coal fires for heating the older houses. (New houses are heated with electricity.)