Day 7 (Xi'an-Nanjing)

Today we headed out from the hotel at around 10am; we headed to the Tang Dynasty Art Museum, interesting artwork, not my speed though, spent time snapping shots of the roof moldings unique to the era. Afterwards we walked to the Buddhist temple, the White Goose Pagoda, again lots of pics, didn’t see any Buddhists though. It was a serene environment, filled with smell of incense and tourists, and no Buddhists monks in their signature bright orange garb. They had a nice basketball court though. I walked up to the top of the pagoda it was well a view from 7 stories, nothing special not worth the walk up seven flights of stairs. Outside the Pagoda there were well planted gardens that were not in bloom so they were a bit dull looking, probably really picturesque during the spring and summer. We left the pagoda and headed to the Great Mosque, I didn’t go in, but right outside there was a shuk, similar to the Arab shuk’s that are indigenous to many middle eastern countries, but the odd thing bout this one was there was no Arabs, but the same small and dark alleyways where vendors are selling crap, interesting and fun.

We left the area of the great mosque and headed back to the train station, where a 14 hour train ride to Nanjing (Nanking) awaits us. The train was nicer then on the ride to Xi’an, and no one was doing any heavy drinking this time around, it was a pleasant and enjoyable ride, got to sleep more the on the previous ride. Looking forward to Nanjing, no more constant touring; yes a place to rest up.

ttyl