Big implies Little

Yes, there is also a Small Wild Goose Pagoda.

Small Wild Goose Pagoda was a lot less crowded than it’s big brother (see previous post). There’s a little craft village with resident artists showcasing some of the regional specialities such as leatherwork, calligraphy, paper cutting, tea arts and jade carving, all clustered around a courtyard with a pond and trees.

I was offered an impromptu tea-tasting and I got to sample some old Puér, a local Dragon Well, and several other teas. The man serving was happy to cut off extra PuEr from a round cake wrapped in rice-paper, which he added to my water bottle with fresh hot water.

The museum beside the Pagoda was excellent, in a light, modern building and far less busy. Thee was no café, but in the little shop, the girls were eating their bowls of noodles, and when I mimed that the lovely smell was making me feel hungry, they insisted on me taking a mooncake. I took it away gracefully even though I didn’t think I’d be able to eat it, but it was packed with walnuts and sesame seeds, only a little bean paste and hardly any sugar. The best mooncake I have ever had, washed down with the old Puér.

The Bell Tower, beside the Pagoda

A lovely museum building - The Pagoda is in fact part of the
Xi’an Museum

Lovely grounds around the Pagoda

I had many such friendly interactions despite almost never coming across anyone who spoke any English. On a particularly slow local bus I took out my book, and caused a great hilarity with the other passengers. The woman beside me couldn’t stop pointing at it and telling the rest of the bus how strange it was that a gweilo would be reading a BOOK. I thought she was saying something along the lines of she doesn’t even have a kindle, isn’t it quaint? How strange and backward the red devils are. Hysterical really. I even used real money, where everyone else was paying for everything including bus fares by waving their phone at a scanner. 

Which brings me to the subject of phones, especially the lack of headphones. If they’re not having robust conversations in ear-splitting voices and in (to my ear) abusive, aggressive tones, people were watching videos or playing games or something. So, on the train or bus or any other place, there are multiple tinny soundtracks filling up the space – public space, folks! And because sometimes they were seated right beside me I could see what some of these folk were watching – a young girl spent her commute scrolling through ads for makeup and watching videos of women unpacking postal packages and admiring the tubes and bottles inside, while the young man with the seat beside mine on the bullet train watched videos of how to undo bits of machinery with various wrenches and spanners – both with mindless endless soundtracks.