The tea ceremony
After we left the Terracotta Warriors we were taken to a tea house for a well earned cuppa, and an unexpected tea ceremony which was wonderful. I bought some Lychee tea and am about to go and make myself a cup right now! It is good for the skin apparently but it just tastes good to me!
Museum exhibits
Then it was back to Xi’an, where we visited a large Museum, which was very interesting but it had a been a hot and tiring day and we knew we were going to visit the Wild Goose Pagoda, so we had a very quick look round the museum, then our guide found us and we asked if we could go to the Wild goose Pagoda sooner than planned. Sindy agreed and off we went.
The Wild Goose Pagoda
The Wild Goose Pagoda is a working Buddhist Monastery, the Pagoda itself is the Library. Apparently a few years ago the building started to lean to one side, due to the weight of the books inside!! The books were all moved, the building repaired, the books all put back and hopefully the building will now last another couple of hundred years. It was also noticeable that because the buildings are in constant use, everything inside was spotlessly clean. I will be doing a blog about the Forbidden City very soon, the interiors of the buildings there are noticeably dusty!
The Buddhist Monks pray here daily.
Probably rung to summon the monks.
Another amazing ceiling!
The Pagoda is surrounded by the monk’s garden, it is a beautiful place, very calm and peaceful, with chickens running around, birds in cages hanging from the trees, Buddha statues and large stones extolling the virtues of a garden. Just wonderful .
Porcelain plaques all round the walls
Another wonderful ceiling
We spent a very pleasant hour in and around the Pagoda then it was back to the Hotel, where we were booked for dinner and a show in the Hotels own Theatre. The dinner was dumplings, which are totally unlike our dumplings, they are pasta wrapped around various fillings, you dip these in a type of vinegar and they are just great! We had dumplings shaped like swans, ducks and peacocks, and filled with all varieties of meat and fish, mmmm yummy! After dinner the show started, it was lovely to see a Chinese show, it was very colourful and entertaining, a great ending to a very busy but lovely day! We slept well that night I can tell you!
Dumplings 
oh, the pagodas!!! i loved the one in the courtyard with the big pot base. then the two bells!!! LOVE the one with the red supports. the duck dumplings are adorable!!! what an amazing and beautiful place!!!
ReplyDeleteThe shows look fantastic, and you did a wonderful job of photographing them.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) Horst I just kept clicking away and hoped that some of the photos came out ok, luckily they did!! Texwisgirl, I think you can understand why the Temple was more interesting to us than the Museum, even though that was interesting too!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots Poppy the colours are amazing so much to see and enjoy I can understand you sleeping well that night. wow and wow again thank you :)xx
ReplyDeleteReally pleased you are enjoying the journey Sheila, plenty more still to come...The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Behai Park and The Big One for me - The Great Wall :):)Hope you will enjoy those too XX
ReplyDeleteLooks like you have many treasured moments from your trip! Thanks for sharing!, & thanks for dropping in my blogger recently!
ReplyDeleteHi Poppy just drifting by to say thanks for comment on my photos I and trying to catch up on folks blogs, and my oh my what a fantastic feast for the eyes is this one, and what a fantastic holiday, the pictures really bring it all to life for us poor stay at homes. I wasn't happy about the poor bird in the cage, it looked a bit cramped :-( and I hope SHeila didn't take the little duckling dumplings too literately, though seriously everything is just so wonderful, I wish I'd been with you sigh.
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