McDonald's is air-conditioned!

After the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, we were hot and tired, and AB was a little hungry. I've been getting her Happy Meals with the little alphabet bears all weekend, so we headed back over for more nuggets and yogurt and some playtime in the nice, cool restaurant!

Great Wild Goose Pagoda

We had a choice this afternoon to see this pagoda or go back and see the Xi'an Mosque or other things in the Bell and Drum Tower Square. AB heard "Buddhist Temple" and that was the end of that debate. It was REALLY HOT and she was really tired - she fell asleep before we had seen much of it at all. After a while, she woke up and was crying - she had to be so uncomfortable in the heat, but when I asked if she wanted to go in and see the Buddha, she said yes. I said she couldn't cry if we wentn into the temple, and she said okay and stopped crying! She also said "sawadee ka" to the Buddha - I guess since our trip to Bangkok, all Buddhas are Thai! :)

Xi'an City Wall

This morning we went to the Xi'an City Wall. It goes around the city for about 12 miles, and you can rent bicycles to ride around. They didn't have any bikes with child seats, so AB and I hired a pedicab driver to take us from the South Gate (aka the "flarph" gate) to the West Gate and back. He was very sweet with AngelBaby and pointed out the various sights for us. AB got out and ran around a few times, and also swiped my diet Coke! Here are some pics of AB - the pics of the wall are in the slide show to follow!

Xi'an Bell Tower

We stayed at the Bell Tower hotel, and this is the Bell Tower (from the front of the hotel).

Famen Temple Great Buddha

We could see this Buddha from the parking lot at Famen Temple. I have searched the web for information about this but only found a photo of it attached to the Famen Temple link. The ticket says (in Chinese) Famen Temple Eastern Great Buddha Temple, or something to that effect. I guess it is part of the Famen Temple, but it was a distance to walk to get to it. It was so neat! Buddhas on four sides to protect the four directions. You could climb up the inside (and of course we did)... again, incredible views! Enjoy the photos!

Here are a few pics in case the slide show won't load for you...

Famen Temple

After lunch, we went to Famen Temple. Here's the write-up on the temple from another site:

Famen Temple is situated in Famen Town 120 kilometers northwest of Xi'an. Although this Temple is a little far from Xi'an, it is an exciting place with an intriguing history and it is worth making the effort to visit.

Famen literally means the initial way to become a Buddhist believer. The Famen Temple was first set up during East Han Dynasty. In the year 147 AD, King Asoka of India traveled to Asia, preaching Buddhism. In China, he established Famen Temple and left the fingers of Buddha to be enshrined here. The original wooden four-storey Famen Temple Pagoda fell down due to an earthquake in 1569. The rebuilt thirteen-storey brick building also collapsed in 1981 due to constantly rainy season. In the course of rebuilding the pagoda in 1987,an underground vault was discovered under the base of the pagoda. A great amount of Buddhist relics were found including four finger sarira relics.

The tower was beautiful but the flags were annoying...
Whew! A view without flags!



This monk really liked AB, and gave her some fruit to eat
This is the underground relics part

baby mohawk

Here's cutie pie AB demonstrating her mohawk - she got applause from all her new friends and so kept doing it!

Qianling Mausoleum

This morning we started our touring day with a visit to the Qianling Mausoleum. Click on the link to read about it - it is supposed to be the tomb of Emperor Gao Zong and Empress Wu Zetian, but it has not been opened. It's basically just a high hill with the unexplored tomb beneath. (I learned about it from reading the site as well, our guide explanation was anything but clear - regardless, it was a good hike!) We hiked up, up, up, and up to the top and were treated with some amazing views! It was a hot day and AB was tired - she fell asleep very soon after we arrived and snoozed in the backpack all the way up and back down!


view from the entrance to the mausoleum
Gary and the path back to the entrance
Yoga Jackie
AB and me and one of the headless statues
beautiful!
what a view!
Nancy, Jackie, Sunah, and Winnie
AB and me, partway up the hill
great view from here!
Mike
it was optional to ride a horse to the top (none of us did)
Eric and me and a sleeping AB
more of the view
Gary and Mike
me and AB
Eric from a distance