I Will Not Make Obvious "Wild Goose Chase" References at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

Incense burner (foreground), Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (background)

I will not make the obvious, cliched "joke" references to being on a "wild goose chase" just because I am at Xi'an's Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.  My humor is too sophisticated for that.

The Giant Wild Goose Pavilion is a short walk from the Shaanxi History Museum.

But not on that side of the road.  This side of the road:

The statue is of the Buddhist monk who was appointed by the Tang Dynasty emperor to go to India to bring back copies of the Buddhist sacred texts for use in Buddhist China.

He is, of course, a popular photo spot.

Knock and it shall be open to you:

Wrong religion, sorry.

Actually, you don't need to knock.  You buy a ticket and enter through a colorful gate.

Just like every other tourist attraction we've seen so far.  And soon you are on the grounds of the Giant Wild Goose Pavilion:

There is of course a drum tower to the left.

And a bell tower to the right:

A fire pit to burn the incense sticks:

And the star of the show, a giant golden Buddha.  This Buddha is covered in gold leaf, not just gold paint.

And another Buddha.

You can't have too many Buddha.

The Giant Wild Goose Pavilion is not as "giant" as it once was.  It was built in the 600s by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.  But a massive earthquake in 1556 knocked three stories off the top of the structure, reducing it to its current seven stories.

There is a meditation garden for the Buddhist monks.

And a fat laughing Buddha,

Our tour guide said I looked just like the fat, laughing Buddha.  The nerve!  I may have a gut, but I don't have man-boobs.  Yet.

This was our guide, Won, who made the comment, doing some calligraphy for us.

After exiting the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, we walked through a nearby park.

With statuary!  These are "ethnical" musicians.

More "ethnicals," I presume.

The walk was not too crowded.  Xi'an, again, is just a small village of a mere six million souls.  Twelve million metropolitan.

The backside of the pagoda.  This was supposed to be an artsy photo of fountain water, but the fountain waters were not cooperating.

They cooperated more with this picture of a child enjoying his bubble-making.

This is a statue of a famous drunken Chinese poet Li Bai, from the 700s.  He drank himself to death.

Edgar Allen Poe.  Charles Bukowsky.  Dylan Thomas.  Jim Morrison.  All would be proud.

Last shot of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, with the fountain waters being more cooperative.  Tomorrow is the big reason for the whole trip:  the Terra Cotta Army.