Today after breakfast we drove to Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist Pagoda located in southern Xi'an. It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang. Nowadays there are still 200 monks living in the temple, which is few compared to the 2000 they have been hundreds of years ago. The temple is very new; the only old and original building on the area is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It is possible to climb it up after paying an entrance fee, but we did not do that. However we surrounded it. Looking at it from “behind” you can see that it is not straight anymore which apparently is caused by underground water. I enjoyed the atmosphere there, with monks sitting around, trees and (apart from tourists walking around) silence.
At 4pm I was brought back to the hotel, the tour was finished. As it still was early I decided to pay a visit to the Bell Tower and so I used the underground way to reach it in the middle of a roundabout. First I surrounded it once and then climbed up to the top of it. The view was great, because you can see the four streets leading to the roundabout, each one stretching out into another direction.
Afterwards I decided to go for a coffee at Starbucks, where I met two German girls by chance, who are here for travel China too. Together we headed to the Muslim street where we had dinner at one of the BBQ places. The street was very crowded, sellers offered their food and souvenirs, people bargained, delicious smells followed each other and dried fruits were shining in various colors.
Finally we made a walk to the southern gate of the Ancient City Wall. When visiting Xi’an a walk on the wall is a must-do, and we did not want to miss it. On the top of the wall we finally decided to take a rickshaw for half an hour. We were driven into the direction of the west gate and made several stops to take pictures.
It was half past eight when we came back to the South Gate and we immediately took a taxi to Big Wild Goose Pagoda. There we attended a water and light show which took place at the huge fountains in front of the pagoda. The whole place was crowded by Chinese people and it was difficult to see anything. After some time many people were running though the fountains and enjoying the cooling effect of the water.
Absolutely tired I fell into my bed at 11pm and had a good sleep. The next morning it was heavily raining and so I spent the last hours before driving to the airport at the Starbucks, having breakfast there and enjoying some good coffee.
At 4pm I was brought back to the hotel, the tour was finished. As it still was early I decided to pay a visit to the Bell Tower and so I used the underground way to reach it in the middle of a roundabout. First I surrounded it once and then climbed up to the top of it. The view was great, because you can see the four streets leading to the roundabout, each one stretching out into another direction.
Afterwards I decided to go for a coffee at Starbucks, where I met two German girls by chance, who are here for travel China too. Together we headed to the Muslim street where we had dinner at one of the BBQ places. The street was very crowded, sellers offered their food and souvenirs, people bargained, delicious smells followed each other and dried fruits were shining in various colors.
Finally we made a walk to the southern gate of the Ancient City Wall. When visiting Xi’an a walk on the wall is a must-do, and we did not want to miss it. On the top of the wall we finally decided to take a rickshaw for half an hour. We were driven into the direction of the west gate and made several stops to take pictures.
It was half past eight when we came back to the South Gate and we immediately took a taxi to Big Wild Goose Pagoda. There we attended a water and light show which took place at the huge fountains in front of the pagoda. The whole place was crowded by Chinese people and it was difficult to see anything. After some time many people were running though the fountains and enjoying the cooling effect of the water.
Absolutely tired I fell into my bed at 11pm and had a good sleep. The next morning it was heavily raining and so I spent the last hours before driving to the airport at the Starbucks, having breakfast there and enjoying some good coffee.
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