We got up early in the morning for our flight to Xi’an.  This is the oldest city in china (3000 years of written history).  When we landed it was raining.  But the plan for the day was a museum so that was the best day for it to rain.  Xi’an was the capital a long time ago so there are many treasures found around the city.  The museum had a lot of pottery and metal work from the different dynasties.  The people believe that they needed to be buried with their treasures for the afterlife, similar to the ancient Egyptians, but in China they buried them underground and built mountains on top.  Then I wondered, if we are digging up these treasures thousands of years later, are we ruining their afterlife?  Are they no longer rich and protected in the after life?

After the museum, we checked into the hotel.  My room was a suite.  I have separate living room from the bedroom.  I also had a king sized bed.  I just want to hang out in a robe in my room for a few days.  But, a girl has to eat.  Tonight we went out for a dumpling dinner.  The restaurant we went to is supposed to be famous for their dumplings.  It was near the center of town.  There are two towers there, the bell tower and the drum tower.  In ancient times, the walled city was gated and locked at night.  One toDwer housed bells (or drums, can’t remember which is which) that were rung in the morning to announce that the gates were opening so people that lived outside the city knew it was time to come in and do business.  At the end of the day, the drums were used to announce that the gates would be closing soon.  There were 18 different dumplings served at dinner.  They just kept coming.  Some of them were really delicious and some were not so much.

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