China Spring 2016 Part 5

Day 4 (Morning):  Xian, China - This was a Sunday and our guide who is from this area took us early in the morning to a wonderful park and famous Buddhist Pagoda: Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang. The park surrounding the temple was spectacular and a popular Sunday morning spot for local people. Many Chinese come here to exercise/dance, and we saw all kinds of dancing, from traditional Chinese dances to ballroom dancing and, of course, Tai Chi. The park has a spectacular fountain and beautiful statues throughout.

As usual Geoff gave us a brief introduction to the area and then turned us lose.
Since he is from this area he knows it very well. During the trip we learned that
this is beef and wheat country and so they specialize in noodles so he much
prefers noodles over rice. We also learned that his Chinese name sounds very much like
Geoff so it wasn't much of a stretch to choose his English name. 

One of many dance groups

It's hard to get perspective but the dancing fountains
ran down the hill from the foot of the Pagoda.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

After visiting the Pagoda, we went to a jade factory and store. Unfortunately, the Jade horse Kris wanted to buy weighed about 400 lbs and cost $50,000.

Everywhere we went in China we saw crazy wire work like above.

Hard to believe this is carved rock!

The ball Peggy is holding is 8 layers of spheres, each able to spin freely.

This shows an artist carving a sphere. They work in a continuous stream of water as they drill.