Day 13: Xian - Dumpling dinnerOct 2, 2009
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Our overnight train arrived in an hour late and by the time we found our way to our YMCA hotel in the city centre it was almost two o'clock. Empty taxis were near to impossible to find, but eventually we got one and went to visit the Big Goose Pagoda, where lots of families were flying kites which made a beautiful sight. The pagoda was originally built in 652AD to preserve the Buddhist scriptures that Monk Xuazang brought back from India, but the building that stands today dates from the Qing Dynasty. Like all of these Chinese style buildings they are a photographer's dream and I will have some major sorting of my photos to do when I get home!
We spent lots of time there, so went straight from there to the famous dumpling dinner that I'd been waiting for almost as long as waiting for the Terracotta Warriors! I wasn't disappointed! The dumpling dinner consisted of about 20 different dumplings, each one shaped by hand to resemble the filling, e.g. the duck dumpling looked like a miniature duck, the walnut one looked like a walnut (and tasted like a Christmas mince pie!), there was ham, fish etc etc. It was all very clever, and they also gave you a big plate of normal pork dumplings in case you were still hungry. Like everyone else, I ate all the special dumplings and managed to squeeze in a couple of the plain ones too! Yum! I love dumplings and am going to eat them as much as I can! You must go there! While we ate, a lady played one of those big, long stringed instruments as background music, and after dinner was another great show of local dancing (many with ribbons and flowing long-armed dresses), opera and acting.
