Heritage Tour
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Saturday, July 4, 2015 BRUTAL 5am wake up for our flight from Beijing to Xi'an. There is no rest for the weary on this heritage tour so instead of leaving the airport and checking into our new hotel to get some rest, we had lunch and set off to our first Xi'an monument: the Wild Goose Pagoda Buddhist Temple that dates back to the Tang Dynasty. An ancient temple with a rich history. As in most Buddhist temples, there is a ceremonial bell to ring and offer a prayer for some divine support. This bell weighed a few hundred tons. As you must with most things in life, you had to pay to ring the bell. You then wrote your prayer on a red card and hung it with the rest of the prayers. We then went to the famous Xi'an City Wall. The bike ride/walk on the Ancient Wall of Xi'an tired most of the group out more than other activities we have gone on the trip so far. The Ancient Wall is 1,500 years old and completely encircles the city. On top of the wall there is a large road-like path that stretches across the entire wall-10 miles long! With the bumpy path and numerous pedestrians, this particular outing was difficult enough, but some younger adoptee family members biked the whole 10 mile route in about 45 min! After the ride was over, everyone was exhausted and sweaty and ready to relax but instead we immediately set out for the night market in the Muslim Quarter. This was a busy market with lots of street vendors selling food, hand made goods, and a wide variety of nick knacks. We enjoyed the market and the shopping, but were warned off the food as our guide had eaten there the day before and was still suffering the gastronomic consequence. A very exciting piece of news - Annabel's foster family was located and we will very likely be seeing them when we visit Yuanling! Tomorrow - the Terracotta Army!