Don't Want None Unless You Got Buns, Hun
Xianyang, Shanxi, China
June 03, 2009
I had one last bath in our lovely room. I had some mulberries and a muffin for breakfast with a cup of tea. We packed and sadly had to check out.
We walked to the East Gate and took some photos. We then headed through a non-tourist neighbourhood to the Eight Immortals Temple. Along the way Bill bought some bananas for breakfast.
The temple was first build during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). The site was formerly known as Xingqing Palace during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Legend has it that 8 mysterious figures (the Immortals) dined here, thus giving the temple it's name. This place was the focus of Taoism of the North West during the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1616 - 191) Dynasties. The facility was rebuilt after it was damaged in the mid-1900's. There are plaques with Taoist scripture around the temple.
Yu Xian Bridge has the Lucky and Peaceful Bell underneath it. It was neither lucky nor peaceful for Bill as he could not hit the bell with a coin. 3/8 times he hit the area around the bell, but not the bell itself. It was here that the Zhongli (master of Taoism) met Lu Dongbin and helped him to attain Tao. A tablet has been erected in this spot to commemorate the meeting. There is also tall incense burner with dragons and storks on it.
The Hall of Linqguan has the guardian of Taoism. He upholds justice. He has colourful armour, red hair and a red beard and he is holding a tablet. There is a painting of a dragon behind him. On the left there is a statue of the White Tiger and on the right is the Green Dragon. They are guardian beings and appear in human form.
Inside there is a monk wearing a blue jacket, black pants that end below the knee, long white socks and black shoes made of cloth. He is wearing a brown hat that has an opening for the bun on his head.
Outside there is a small dragon pond/well with fish and people have thrown paper money into it. There are also two towers that encompass steles. They are brick and very ornate.
The next building is the Hall of the 8 Immortals. It has a lot of ornate wood work with dragons carved into it. There is a statue of Dong Hua Dijun with a long goatee, moustache and side burns. On the left there is a mural of a tiger, leopard, donkey, stork, 2 dragons and a bird of prey. Each animal is carrying someone, perhaps the 8 Immortals... On the North wall there are statues of the immortals. On the right side is Han Xiangzi, Tie Guaili, Zhang Guolao and Han Zhougli. ON the left is Lu Dongbin, Cao Guojiu, Lu Caihe and He Xiangu. On the east wall there is a mural that looked like it could be the banquet of the 8 Immortals.
Next was the Hall of Dou Mu, the Taoist Goddess. She is the mother of the 12 stars. She manages all of the stars and is depicted with 6 hands and wearing a gold robe. On the left is Zuofu and the 5 stars of the big dipper - Tanlang, Jumen, Lucun, Wonqu and Lianzhen. On the right is Youbi, Wuqu and Pojun along with the Upper Star Qusheng. They are all housed in intricate wooden cabinets. On either side there are murals of mortals and gods.
The Hall of Lu Zu has a statue of Lu Dongbin (one of the 8 Immortals). He assists living creatures to attain Tao. He is located way back in a wooden shrine and is surrounded by murals (scenes of his life?).
The Hall of the Master Pharmacist, Sun Simiao, was next. He lived during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907).He is also known as the King of Medicine. The Hall of Tai Bai, Venus, is known as the symbol of fame, riches and honours. Both statues were in small temples and we could not enter.
Bill was instructed to take a photo of an older Chinese lady. She was very specific about what she wanted!
Outside the temples there was a market with articles for religious offerings and souvenirs. I purchased some yin and yang coins for 1 yuan.
On the other side of the market there was a food market with fruits, veggies, meat and buns. I was standing at one bun place and I wanted to know if there was meat in them, so I had the book out. A young lady came up to me with her grandfather. She spoke English, so she was helping me out. Everything was 2 or 4 for 1 yuan and I just wanted one of each to try. The old guy thought that was hilarious! I just love trying them. Each one is a surprise! I ended up getting 2 plain, 1 spicy and 1 with red bean. The red bean one was really good, the rest were too plain, but it only cost me 2 yuan for everything. I gave the young lady a Canadian pin and she was thrilled!
There was also some cafeteria style places too. I almost ordered a bean salad, but chose a dish that looked like chicken slices with pepper. It was 5 yuan (less than $1). We walked for a while before we found a place to sit down and eat. It ended up being tofu, so Bill did not have any of it. I thought it was really good. I could eat tofu on a regular basis. I had all of the red bean bun and a few bites of the others. Bill had a few bites of the plain bun.
Along the way we bought some round breads. They were nice and warm and tasted like pretzels. They could have used some mustard though because they were very dry. We ate part of one each and I washed my down with water and Bill had a coke. How many times have I mentioned COKE? I think the corp. should throw me some cash for the publicity! I would even go back and add the logo and capitalize the word Coke or spell it as Coca-Cola.
We ended up back at the East Gate. The East Gate was built during the reign of a Ming Emperor, Hong Wu, in 1370. It was 40 yuan each ($6+) to go to the top of the gate and walk or ride a bike around the wall (bike rental is extra). On our way up the stairs we were stopped by a lady and her mom. We had our photo taken with the mom and then there was a big fuss and some giggling because Bill kissed the mom on the cheek. Then we had our photo taken with the daughter.
Along the ramparts there were old wooden weapons like a wagon and catapults there were also some cannons. There were two buildings. One was closed (could rent bikes or hire a ride on the motorized cart in front of it) and the one that was open had a photo gallery on the first floor. We were able to walk up to the 2nd floor, but the 3rd floor was closed.
The walls of the city were made with rammed earth, quicklime and rice extract. Along the wall there are sentry platforms and rampart towers "ma mian". There are 98 of them and they are 120 meters apart or the range of two arrows. They are 20 m wide, 12 m long and extend from the main wall (outward). They were used for observation of the enemy, weapon storage and protection from the rain for the soldiers.
It is hot on the wall. It is supposed to be 35 degrees and the gray and black stones are hot. Thankfully there is a bit of a breeze at times. On the stone walk there are some Chinese words and dates engraved. We see 1984 a lot...
We walked around to the South Gate. By this time Bill is hungry and I am thirsty. We walked through the building at the South Gate which is selling a lot of things, walked up to the second floor for the view and then headed back down to the street.
We left the old city and headed toward the Small Goose Pagoda. We stopped at a restaurant along the way. Bill ordered Hans Beer and they did not have water, so I ordered an iced tea. It had lots of sugar, so I did not open it, the waitress saw me examining the bottle and brought me one that had less sugar. We shared a fried noodle with chicken dish and had plenty left over. It was 28 yuan for lunch ($4+).
We walked by the North entrance to the Small Goose Pagoda without realizing it. It looked like it was just a park and we could not see the Pagoda itself. The Baby Goose (there is a Great Goose Pagoda too that we could see from the wall) is 43 m tall and was built in 709, during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). It housed scriptures that had been brought from India. The Pagoda has been damaged by earthquakes and part of the top is missing.
We entered the park from the West side and walked past the museum to the Pagoda. We walked up the narrow wooden stairway to the top of the Pagoda. It was a long climb!
Afterward we headed ot the museum and viewed the glassware on the main floor. Some of the glassware dated back to the Zhou Dynasty (770 - 221 BC). There were snuff bottles, vases and bowls; many of them had floral designs. In the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) there were pendants, beads, vases, bowls and oil lanterns.
The next rooms had religious artefacts from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). There were many shrines of Buddha and Bodhisattva, an elephant, an iron Buddha, a crouching lion in marble, steles and stupas. Some dated back to the Sui (581 - 608), Northern (386 - 581) and Northern Wei (386 - 534) Dynasties. Most of them were in remarkable shape. Buddhist temples first appeared in Chang'an around 300 AD in there Western Jin Dynasty (265 - 316). Buddhism arrived in China around 100 AD.
In the basement there was a wood model of Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Chang'an was the ancient capital for 19 Dynasties. It was renamed Xian during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) meaning "Western Peace". During the Tang Dynasty there were 582 Pagodas, it was 10 km wide and 8.5 km from North to South. It had a population of 1 million people. THere were 14 East to West streets and 11 North to South streets. There was one outer large wall and 2 smaller inner walls.
There were many pottery figures displayed. I like the 3 colour civil and military figures, the painted pottery tomb and heavenly guardian, the painted pottery Hunting figure on horseback and camels from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). I also liked the painted pottery (red, black and green) men with felt hats and their horses from the Ming Dynasty (1386 - 1644).
I also liked the red, black and gray warriors as well as the gold pot and glazed pot and bowls from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the bronze tripod, pots, cups and bowls from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 771 BC), the ox and cart, pig, goat, chicken and dog pottery (xome glazed) from the Norhtern Dynasty (386 - 851), the wagoneer and tile ends with horse, deer and dragon from the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC) and the spiky bells and water pipes from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 771 BC).
So, I guess overall, I really liked the displays here. I am sad that we did not make it over to the Shaanxi Museum like we planned, but this turned out really well.
On the top floor there was a room of seals and stamps (the scrap booking room). They were tokens of authority in the Qin (221 - 206 BC) Dynasty. There were 10's of thousands of them at the time. 279 were found in the Drum Tower.
Another room had a jade display. Jade is for decoration, but is also a symbol of power and wealth. It was sometimes used to make sacrifices to heaven, earth, ghost and gods.
There was a collection of calligraphy and paintings (arts of brush and ink). Xian was the center for arts during the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties (approximately 770 BC - 907 AD). There were examples of figure portraits, birds, flower, animals and landscapes.
After the museum we took a cab to the Bell Tower. I was very thirsty, so I had a Venti iced tea for 21 yuan ($3+). We headed to the pedestrian street and saw lots of clothing for sale - socks, tops (human coat racks), nail polish, beelts and jewellery.
We ate at the underground mall at Cherry Blossom (another Japanese restaurant) - a sushi bar. We had 1 salmon, 1 shrimp, 1 cucumber, 2 Cokes, 1 tea fro 37 yuan ($7).
We walked back to the hotel and I freshened up while Bill used the internet for 15 minutes at 15 yuan ($3). He checked hotmail and the location of our next hotel. We collected our bags and took a cab. Along the way we picked up our laundry. The driver booted us out at the bus station, so we had to walk the last block with our excessively heavy luggage.
The waiting room was full, so I stood in front of the TV until some people made room for us to sit at a love seat. We were only there long enough for us to buy some cold water and cahews for 20 yuan ($3+).
We boarded the train and waited in the heat with our cabin mate. He is Chinese and does not speak English but seems nice enough. He offered us some cookies from the Sofitel. We laughed and showed him that we had stayed there too. He looks like he may be a monk of some kind. He is dressed in all gray and has long white socks that he tucks his pants into.
We played cards and wrote to Nigel (our last letter!). Bill won the first game of Rummy and we decided to go to sleep so we would not disturb our cabin mate who is already snoring.