We were soon on our way. Rule #1 — Never believe the guide's weather forecast for the next day. Today, I 'm sure I was the only person in the city wearing short pants — not that there are ever very many. It was one cool day. Along the route we a saw a "fender bender" happen. I am continually surprised there aren't a lot more of them considering the constant near misses.

This time our objective was the Big Goose Pagoda which seemed like one strange name. Here's the story:

According to historical records, the monks living in the Da Ci'en Temple had no meat to eat. They longed for it so one of the monks started to pray to the Gods to bless them. At that very moment, a group of wild geese flew over the temple. Their heads dropped to the ground and they died. The monks were all surprised and thought it was the result of the Buddhist spirit so they decided not to eat meat forever. A pagoda was ordered to be built in this place. Hence the name "Big Goose Pagoda."
In AD 652, the Big Goose Pagoda was built to store the sutras and the figurines of Buddha, which were brought from India by a famous Buddhist translator and traveler Tang Sanzang, also known by his Buddhist name as Xuanzang. At the age of 28, he set off to India to study the sutra and then brought back most of the scriptures to Chang'an, now called Xian city.

We were taken through the area where important monks had been buried over the centuries and later in their shop (Of course they had a shop.) we offered our support for the monks by buying a traditional Chinese stamp with our grandson's name in Chinese and English and the animal associated with the year of his birth

On leaving we dodged the bus stop sales force and while travelling tried to get some good shots of a wedding party. It was moving target. They were moving and so were we.

Our next stop was the "Terracotta Soldier Reproduction Institute." Translated this means where they warm you up with something to make you happy, then show you how they make their souvenirs. then give you a chance to buy, buy buy.

Finally, with our new "stuff" we were off again. On our way to see what we had all been waiting for we stopped for lunch . When we arrived at the terra cotta warrior complex we had to go through security before being greeted with a large model/map of the site.

Suddenly, before us was one of the great finds of the century. We were told workers come in and work each night in their effort to discover the parts and restore warriors. There were a series of buildings each adding another aspect to the story. There was even a theatre-in-the-round to tie it all together and the famous farmer who discovered the site. And are these our old friends the "The terra cotta army reproduction company"?

Returning, the smog prevented me from capturing street scenes. That evening we enjoyed a Tang Dynasty Show and a dumpling banquet served with a warrior bottle of a mystery alcoholic drink. Thumbs up for the dumplings; thumbs down for the warrior beverage. I'll stick with the beer.

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