Our next trip was to visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We took bus 609 from the bus stop at the side of Bell Tower Hotel (see map), just beside the hotel, no need to cross the road. There were many buses heading there but seems like 609 is more popular cause our hotel staff and also the information kiosk right infront of Bell Tower Hotel recommended this bus. There were be an announcement inside the bus to announce each bus stop but is in mandarin. So you need to understand mandarin to be able to take the bus or show the picture of Big Wild Goose Pagoda or chinese wordings to passengers in the bus to alert you to get down incase you dont understand mandarin.
The bus stop of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is known as 大雁塔 pronounced as Dàyàn Tǎ
. The fare is CNY2.
The bus stop (known as Zhonglou bus stop) beside Bell Tower Hotel.
The journey took about 30 minutes to reach cause of some traffic jam(otherwise if there's no traffic jam, it took about 20 minutes). Can see the pagoda right infront of the bus screen when almost reaching the destination.
After alighting from the bus, we just walked towards the pagoda, need cross the overhead bridge to reach there.
Lots of hawker selling their goods along the bridge.
Surprised to see mangosteens sold by one of the hawker. Thought mangosteens mainly found in S.E. Asia.
Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.
Xuanzang started off from Chang'an (the ancient Xian), along the Silk Road and through deserts, finally arriving in India, the cradle of Buddhism. Enduring 17 years and traversing 100 countries, he obtained Buddha figures, 657 kinds of sutras, and several Buddha relics. Having gotten the permission of Emperor Gaozong (628-683), Xuanzang, as the first abbot of Daci'en Temple, supervised the building of a pagoda inside it. With the support of royalty, he asked 50 hierarchs into the temple to translate Sanskrit in sutras into Chinese, totaling 1,335 volumes, which heralded a new era in the history of translation. Based on the journey to India, he also wrote a book entitled 'Pilgrimage to the West' in the Tang Dynasty, to which scholars attached great importance.
As for the reason why it is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda, there is a legend. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat.
Read more from travelchinaguide.
The only ancient history I saw , must be the tower and the temple, the rest of the buildings and statues were added to attract tourists. The entrance to the place is free of charge but to enter the temple and tower, a fee is collected. We went there to watch the light show in the night so did not ascend the tower as it closed at 5 pm.
The light show is about 20 minutes long.
Our fast dinner before show started at 9 pm, we had nice burger from Burger King. The bun is really soft and huge, twice the size we ate in Singapore.
After the show, we walked back to where we alighted to take the bus back to bell tower. Please note the bus stop heading back to bell tower is opposite where we alighted.
Video of the light and musical fountain show
Information:
Ticket Price: Entrance Fee of Daci'en Temple: CNY 50
Ascending the Pagoda: CNY 30
Opening Hours: 8:00 - 17:00
Musical Fountain on the North Square:
Admission Fee Free
CNY 30 for a seat on the viewing platform.
Hours 1. Monday, Wednesday - Friday: 12:00, 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 12:00, 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
2. Tuesday: 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
3. Weekend and other statutory holidays: 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
* Note: There is no show from November to the next January except the Spring Festival Holiday.
Information on timing of show and admission fee is correct at the time of posting this blog, please check the website for the updated information.
After our visit to Hanyangling Mausoleum, we wanted to visit the city walls but temperature (less than 20 degrees Celsius) drop so much as compared to the day before when we visited the Terracotta Museum where the temperature was 30 degrees celsius. Many tourists including us were caught off guard and did not bring our thick jacket and was drizzling so we decided to head back to the hotel for lunch. Too cold to visit the city wall.
Had late lunch around 2 plus at our hotel, the chinese restaurant where we had our daily breakfast.
Claypot Rice and dim sum
Day 3, we decided to visit Hanyangling Mausoleum. We took the subway Line 2 to City Library Station and exit at EXIT D and the bus stop is just infront of EXIT D. We then take tourist bus number 4 to Hanyangling Mausoleum, which is the last stop of the journey.The fare is only CNY2. The journey took about 40 minutes.
Please note the arrival of the bus, the interval of the bus is long. The first bus comes at 8.30am, 10.20am,12noon,13.40,15.20,17.00.
When we arrived at the mausoleum, we quickly note the timing of the bus departure from the mausoleum, we do not want to miss the bus otherwise we had to wait for a long time for the next bus and hardly there's a cab in the vincity as the place is out of the city. The timing for the bus departure from the mausoleum is 9.30am,11.10am,12.50,14.30,16.10 and 18.00.
The price of the ticket is CNY80.
The museum has an underground exhibition hall so that people can see the results of the archeological digs in the big mausoleum complex of Emperor Liu Qi (188 to 141 BC) of the Han Dynasty, his wife, officials, dynastic clan members, and commoners. There is also a graveyard for slaves who built the complex. Read more from source.
Hanyangling Mausoleum is a smaller version of the Terracotta Army Mausoleum. Accompany the burial of the emperor are not any terracotta armies but dolls. They were found intact as a whole unlike the terracotta armies who were broken in pieces.
There will be a museum guide to bring us around but the guide only speak mandarin. It was very dim and dark inside the mausoleum and difficult to take photos of the pit, so I just video the pit.
There's a lot of pretty roses outside the mausoleum near the bus stop, great for taking photos of the flowers.
It was very dark and dim in the mausoleum, I could only use my camera to record the voice of the guide.
You can find out more information about the mausoleum from travelchinaguide.
During our 5 days/4 nights stay in Citadines Hotel Central, Xian, our daily breakfast at the hotel is almost the same. Not much changes to the menu except the noodles (is either mee hoon, kway teow, etc - found them too greasy). But as I dont eat much during breakfast, I am satisfied with the rest of the menu. Below are photos of my breakfast taken at different morning breakfast times during my stay there.
The bus stop (known as Zhonglou bus stop) beside Bell Tower Hotel.
The journey took about 30 minutes to reach cause of some traffic jam(otherwise if there's no traffic jam, it took about 20 minutes). Can see the pagoda right infront of the bus screen when almost reaching the destination.
After alighting from the bus, we just walked towards the pagoda, need cross the overhead bridge to reach there.
Lots of hawker selling their goods along the bridge.
Surprised to see mangosteens sold by one of the hawker. Thought mangosteens mainly found in S.E. Asia.
Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.
Xuanzang started off from Chang'an (the ancient Xian), along the Silk Road and through deserts, finally arriving in India, the cradle of Buddhism. Enduring 17 years and traversing 100 countries, he obtained Buddha figures, 657 kinds of sutras, and several Buddha relics. Having gotten the permission of Emperor Gaozong (628-683), Xuanzang, as the first abbot of Daci'en Temple, supervised the building of a pagoda inside it. With the support of royalty, he asked 50 hierarchs into the temple to translate Sanskrit in sutras into Chinese, totaling 1,335 volumes, which heralded a new era in the history of translation. Based on the journey to India, he also wrote a book entitled 'Pilgrimage to the West' in the Tang Dynasty, to which scholars attached great importance.
As for the reason why it is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda, there is a legend. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat.
Read more from travelchinaguide.
The only ancient history I saw , must be the tower and the temple, the rest of the buildings and statues were added to attract tourists. The entrance to the place is free of charge but to enter the temple and tower, a fee is collected. We went there to watch the light show in the night so did not ascend the tower as it closed at 5 pm.
The light show is about 20 minutes long.
Our fast dinner before show started at 9 pm, we had nice burger from Burger King. The bun is really soft and huge, twice the size we ate in Singapore.
After the show, we walked back to where we alighted to take the bus back to bell tower. Please note the bus stop heading back to bell tower is opposite where we alighted.
Video of the light and musical fountain show
Information:
Ticket Price: Entrance Fee of Daci'en Temple: CNY 50
Ascending the Pagoda: CNY 30
Opening Hours: 8:00 - 17:00
Musical Fountain on the North Square:
Admission Fee Free
CNY 30 for a seat on the viewing platform.
Hours 1. Monday, Wednesday - Friday: 12:00, 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 12:00, 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
2. Tuesday: 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
3. Weekend and other statutory holidays: 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 21:00 (Jun. 10 - Oct. 5); 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:30 (Feb. 1 - Jun. 9; Oct. 6 - Oct. 31)
* Note: There is no show from November to the next January except the Spring Festival Holiday.
Information on timing of show and admission fee is correct at the time of posting this blog, please check the website for the updated information.
