... The pagoda, built in 652 A.D., is a square pyramid and stands at 60 meters high and seven storeys tall. Legend has it that the temple was built by Emperor Tang Gaozong to honor his mother, Empress Wende. The temple is also said to have been built to house and protect Buddhist scriptures collected in India by the Chinese monk, Xuan Zang. The pagoda and surrounding area were very peaceful and even though it was lightly raining we enjoyed it!

After that we returned to the hotel. There was nothing else that needed to be taken care of today.

I decided to leave the baby with Mike and go to the grocery store. Well, you have to take these undergound stairs and go to the store. I got to where I thought I needed to be but I was unsure of where the store was. I called our guide, Michelle, and she directed me! Wait 'til you hear what I bought... a 24 pack of diapers, 3 waters, 4 cans of Coke Light, 4 bottles of apple juice, 2 bottles of Budweiser, a bag of Bugles and 2 bananas. Total cost? 110 yuan - approximately 16 dollars. You could never do that in the U.S. In fact, the diapers alone would cost that! On the flip side, I did see a gas station and gas was running around 9 dollars a gallon! I also picked up McDonald's for lunch... Sadena LOVES French fries. Today we noticed she was trying to dip her fries in the ketchup we had in the box. Maybe these are not her first French fries!

After lunch it was naptime for Mike and Sadena! I checked e-mails. Remember when e-mailing me to use my address of n2mec4god@cfl.rr.com instead of responding to the update message as this will go to Amanda who builds the webpage. Then she has to forward to me.

More to come tomorrow! Enjoy the pictures!