Ladee's Travels

Beijing, China - Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was high on my list of places to see. I thought that it would be huge and must admit that I was slightly disappointed when I reached the first courtyard. It really was much smaller than I thought. Then we saw the second…third…courtyard and it went on and on. Wow, this was much bigger than I thought!

The group did not do as well as local Chinese when it came to staying in line and together.

I was able to get a China Geocache!

Beijing, China - Farewell Opera

We celebrated our fun times and new friendships tonight with an extraordinary Chinese dinner and a few segments from an Opera. I was glad that I paid attention at the Jade store today because I understood one of the Opera love scenes. Feeling local!!

I really like China and plan to return again to see my new best friends.

Xi'an, China - Da Ci'en Temple Entrance

Camera in hand, I made my way off of the bus and starting taking pictures. In the distance is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan Pagoda)...our destination.

Xi'an, China - Early Morning Street Scenes

Our group is up early and touring. Here is what we see on our way to the first tour stop. People on a regular bus are on the way to work, or shopping, or school. Someone asked me if I saw a lot of people riding bicycles in Beijing. No, not really. Transportation modes have changed over the last decade or two.

Xi’an, China – The Tang Dynasty Restaurant

I took some photographs and video during this meal and show. I didn't edit these very much and left some blurry ones in the video so that you could at least get an idea of what we saw. I am learning how to work with video so that sound and movement can be added to the blog posts.

Xian, China - City Wall

I was very excited to get to the top of this city wall. 80 steps, and we were on the top. Not much activity going on today as far as street entertainers, but there were walkers and bikers all along the walk. We didn't get to stay very long because bus #1 was tired and ready to return home. Rats!! I photographs as much as I could and was last to get back on the bus.

Xian, China - Shaaxi Museum

We stopped at a museum complex with a wide collection of artifacts from various dynasties. This guy greets you at the front door!

Xian, China - Noodles for lunch

We had lunch at the Terracotta Soldiers complex. The big draw was to be able to watch someone make fresh noodles. He starts from a single piece of dough and then folds, stretches, folds, stretches until he has thin noodles. He was very fast.

Xian, China - Terracotta Soldiers

This mere size of the discovery is amazing. This is Pit 1, where most of the finished soldiers are staged. The statues were found crushed, and have been pieced together. Truly amazing work. This is about the size of two soccer fields. You can walk all the way around it. The finished soldiers are in this front section, further back is the area where they work to piece them together. Slow and tedious work.

The complex is huge, with three pits on display in various stages of discovery. Restaurant and food available. A must see!