chinese holiday

as mentioned, the CCP (chinese communist party) allowed the whole country a week off ~ which translates into everyone in 1/4 of the world's population traveling around and seeing stuff. i'm not sure what thought processes went into my decision to join them, but i had time off, my friend was here from the States and so why not get squished, jolted, bumped, elbowed and stepped on for a week?

while in Xi'an we had a fully planned out schedule but no matter how much i gazed into my "how to avoid the crowds" crystal ball there was no way around it so we brazenly dove in. the first night we got there we headed to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. this was built some time long long ago and housed some famous monk(s). since it's construction a long long time ago the CCP built a tiered water fountain show off to the side of it consisting of about 6 large 1/2 acre platforms that are equipped with water spouts that shoot up out of the ground and every which way dancing to music and narration that is blared over loudspeakers. apparently, we weren't the only tourists/locals who had heard about this cause it seemed that the whole town, the surrounding countryside and a few other million people came to see the show too.

we staked out a spot on the ledge around the top tier and watch as the crowds grew, and grew and grew. just before it was supposed to start someone decided there was the smallest of entry way right next to Chris and so people kept pushing their way through the rabbit hole to get into the inside in order to see better. finally we spread our feet and held ground which then resulted in us being pushed from the wall of people behind us. we did let a few kids squeeze through, but adults were held back. it was only annoying if i let it be.

when the water started spewing it caught some people out in the middle - most entertaining - and then for the next 30+ mintes water ran, people ran and everyone stood out by the water for a photo moment - because i'm part Chinese i too had a turn, and even got it with a tall military guy - see photo. it was the first of our crowd adventures. it was only got more crowded as the days went on.