Xian and the Pagoda

Ahhhhhhh. A day of relaxation. We were only with our guide for two hours today so we had tons of non-scheduled time. Just what we need to pull the family together. We rolled out of bed this morning around 7 and heading down to the lobby to skype with the family back home before Joels favorite meal of the day, breakfast. What a wonderful ability to be able to see (webcams rock) the little girls back home. They got to meet Josiah over the web... aren't we just the family of the 21st century? Don"t ask how many computers are in our house.... lets just say with Josiah, living breathing human beings now outnumber the computers.

Our hotel is close by to the Wild Goose Pagoda and a huge park area so adventures abound for us. If you havent noticed yet, we like to "get lost" and "figure it out as we go". I mean seriously, who goes to the Great Wall with no guide, no ability to speak Chinese, and then to do it the native Chinese way by going by bus? Yah thats us. So today we wondered around the new international area, only to discover about 75% was still being built. But we discovered a gem in the area (and I think the place next door (hot pots) will be the same, but tomorrow will tell. Seriously, if you ever come to Xi'an you must try out Lilly Dumplings. The manager/owner spoke enough English to explain the basics of our choices, so we ordered boiled pork dumplings, followed by duck steamed dumplings and vegetable egg steamed dumplings. Pork dumplings....Heaven in your mouth..... yes it was that good.... I am pretty sure all the workers ( yes there were 6 of them and only us in the whole place) thought I was insane given the expression on my face.... Josiah downed them too... Joel wasn't so sure about the pork part, so he just picked it out and ate the shells...... THEN came the best, seriously the best, combination of flavors that my tongue has ever had the privilege of tasting... duck steamed dumplings. Ooppss... I just drooled on the keyboard..... The vegi's were surprisingly good too. The manager asked what we thought. Delicious. Which she translated and told all the workers who sighed and smiled. All total we had about 40 of them.... Joel ate three...... so yah we were stuffed.

Fortunately the next item our list was nap time. Recall how I started this post? Ahhhhhh. Yah baby.

At 3:00 we met our guide, Shelly, and headed over to the Wild Goose Pagoda. We learned that this was the study/home of the first monk to introduce Buddhism into China. He did this by traveling to India and studying for 7 years and returning to China with his translations. The emperor then built the pagoda. There were 3 versions over the years, first was 4 levels out of earth. That eroded. So it was rebuilt again out of earth but 7 levels. That eroded. So it was rebuilt again with bricks this time and was 7 levels. The one we see today is this version. It is slightly tilted due to the fact there was an earthquake about 600 years ago and it was only one of three buildings that withstood the quake. It was named Wild Goose due the legend summarized here. After seeing and hearing about the Pagoda, it appeared we were leaving, but April was like.... "Um.... can we go up it?" Our guide looked at us funny and said yes. So off we go. We had to twist her arm to come with and later found out that many of the other families she guides for don't want to climb it. As my wife always says...."Its there so lets do it. We are only here once (albeit this is our 4th trip to china..... ). Are you ready?" To which my verbal response is and will always be " I was born ready." (independent of what my brain says...) Off we go to climb 7 levels which got narrower and smaller and tighter and skinner as we went. Have I mentioned I am not short? Still, worth every moment and provided an awesome view of the city from 4 different directions. I think our guide enjoyed it too as she kept looking out all the windows.

Josiah's personality is starting to come out. Its a strong one. He likes what he likes and wants what he wants. Fortunately no major issues so far. I think tomorrow will be interesting.

As tomorrow we are off for 5-6 hours of viewing the Terracotta Warriors and a Hot Spring. Packing a lunch. Packing duct tape... wait did I type that? I must be tired and my filter is turned off. Seriously though, I think tomorrow will be a good test of our family and how we relate to each other.

Finally, I figured out the picture issue so here are some. Also thanks for all the comments, April and I love to have the interaction.

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