Xi’an likes my hair

Yesterday was unprecedentedly relaxing. I think we needed it.

We left Wen Hui middle school at 5:30a.m. The night before, Steve and I walked up to the basement o’ computers and he drank pijiu while I wrote an involved e-mail. On the walk home we realized that was it for our Chinese adventures and I wondered if we’d ever see each other again. You become friends with some one rather quickly when you get along and then you do pretty much everything together for three weeks. So, good-bye China Buddy. Come to Florida some time.

So Anne, Freddie and I were up at 5. It was a quick, uneventful flight and we met up with our tour guide at the airport in Xi’an. She told us her English name is Jennifer, but she much prefers her Chinese name, Qingliang, because it she likes the meaning, “pure lotus.” I suppose she has taken the image of a flower that springs from the mud but never gets dirty as her own. I don’t mind calling her by her real name, I wish more people would ask me to.

Our driver was exceptionally slow and became lost a few times on the way to our hotel. In fact he became lost a few times on the way to everywhere, so Qingliang says we will have a new driver today. We made it to the hotel, and we are truly amazed.

Pillows

Internet access in the room

A shower curtain

When you drop something on the beds, the object bounces back up. We are living in luxury, which excites us.

(The three of us in front of our hotel)

After we dropped our stuff off, we went to lunch at a very touristy buffet. I was glad to eat, but it was nowhere near authentic. I grabbed a piece of sushi with a red center. I know, Japanese, whatever. I take it, thinking it has tuna in it. Nope: ham. A piece of ham sushi…. gross!

There was a stand where men made noodles, though, and that was awesome. They pulled and twisted the dough until it was in little strings, and then boiled it for about one minute to make wonderful little noodles.

After we ate, everyone went to the rest room. Standing in the hand washing area, I pulled my hair out of its usual ponytail, kind of shook it out upside down, and began putting it back up. Qingliang said “I love your hair. It is very shiny.” I thanked her and finished my ritual.

“Can I touch it?” She wants to touch my hair? I guess so, yeah. I thought it was very odd. She says it is soft. Perhaps it isn’t odd to want to touch a near stranger’s hair, here. I don’t know.

We went, then, to the Wild Goose Pagoda.

It was built 1,300 years ago to represent a story in which a vegetarian Buddhist is wondering why they can’t eat meat. A fellow monk replies that Buddha would give them meat if they were to eat it, but they shouldn’t kill. A goose flew out of the sky and died in front of them, bowing. Apparently Buddha became the goose and offered himself to the monks. This is what I understood.

Xuanzang was a monk at this temple. He wanted to help “fix” Chinese Buddhism, as they did not have texts written in Chinese, it was mostly taught by word of mouth. So he went to India without the blessing or help of the emperor. It must have been very difficult, as they said he went basically alone on his horse. It took him years. once there, he spent 17 years in India and translated many texts into Chinese from Sanskrit. This has had a huge positive impact on not only Chinese Buddhism, but on Buddhism everywhere. Many Indian original texts have been lost, but their Chinese counterparts exist, still. Here is Xuanzang:

We walked around and took pictures. A woman walked up and asked, in very broken English, if she could take a picture with me and her daughter. I obliged, with confusion, and had Qingliang take one for me, too, for good measure:

Our guide says this happened because of my hair. Look at the picture: my hair isn’t looking so great. So strange.

Here are some more pictures from the temple:

(The Buddha meditates)

(Happy Buddha! His smile is for happiness and (this I had never heard) his big belly holds things that would upset him. His big belly is for tolerance.)

(Many people write their wishes and leave them here. I’m not sure of the point.)

We left the temple and went to the City Wall. It is 600 years old and encloses a small part of the city, presumably what was the most important part of it 600 years ago. After the wall, we got massages. Yes, massages. It was delightful, though unlike any I’ve had before. Sometimes I felt like I was being hit. Punched and slapped. It was nice, though, and inexpensive. About $20, US.

We went to a show, then, and dinner. The show was fantastic and showed dancing and music from the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). I’m looking at a sheet of the dynasties, and the oldest known is the Xia Dynasty, which lasted from 2100-1600BC!! It is amazing how old China, and indeed Xi’an, is.

(Dancing in the style of the Tang Dynasty)

There was live music, as well. It was really well done.

Dinner was mostly steamed dumplings, which were delicious. Curiously, and apparently traditionally, some of the dumplings are formed into the shape of what is inside them. Examples:

(Fish dumplings in the foreground)

(Duck dumplings!)

Well, we are leaving for the Terracotta Warriors in ten minutes and I still have to brush my teeth. It was beautiful, I slept in until NINE AM!!! I needed it, I feel much more functional than I have since I fell ill.

By the way, I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I am about 200 pages into Potter. I suppose I shouldn’t mention how it is going as not to destroy anyone.

Love, Jamie