Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
Catching up.
Whilst we are on the subject of catching up.
 
Last Thursday Guangxi Brad arrived in Xian and Friday evening we met at the hostel for a few cold Jim Beam and Colas. We then realised that we actually needed to swap to beer as only then could we say that it has been almost three years since we shared our last beer together over a Tianyang BBQ that consisted of all sorts of inners and outers. The last time we actually saw each other was when he dropped me off at the train station when I left my school in Tianyang and moved to my school in Gansu Province.
 
Somewhere in between that I had an awesome time on my 2006 Summer Beers N Noodles Adventure.
 
We have been planning to catch up over the past few years but being the Captain of the Baise Drug Squad poor Brad rarely has any time off. His squad covers much of the China/Vietnam border along with the south of Yunnan and the Yunnan/Laos border. Such a huge area for such a small squad but I'm sure they do the best they can.
 
Finally this weekend busy Brad could put work aside and then too many beers before him. Some of it is a little hazy especially going to the street bbq at around four or five on Saturday morning. We had an absolute ripper of a time and I can even remember most of it.  
 
Both Friday and Saturday nights were spent at what has become my local which is the Xiang Zi Men YHA  but Saturday night was an absolute pearler. We spent it with the guys from the English band Mike TV who are in China doing a whirlwind tour of many of the main cities all over the mainland. If you like Weezer and Green Day you are sure to like Mike TV and I've added a few links below for those who are interested.
 
The entire night through until five in the morning was a shambles of people coming and going along with the hostel bar staff saying they were closing and then reopening for another hour to then say they were going to close again. We all knew it was a good way for them to make money from us as we'd all race to the bar to purchase a handful of 'last drinks'.  
 
In the end though they made the strangest decision.
 
Instead of telling us to call it a night and go to our rooms they decided that it would be fine for us to go to someone's room to continue our shenanigans. Anyhow, no details needed as it was just your normal hostel party of mixed accents, a huge amount of travel stories, red wine spilt here and there and bottles being dropped all over the shop. I found quite amazing at how many countries we could squeeze into the one bed at one time. I spent most of my time chatting with a blonde guy from Sweden who was very much into the 1980's Heavy Metal scene. We had a blast talking about Venom, Destruction, Kreator etc and I was so over the top happy that some one over fifteen years younger than me is still rocking out to an almost identical band list that I grew up with.
 
The difference is he has actually seen quite a few of them when they have put on re-union gigs. Surely that can't be fair, not fair at all for me!
 
The afternoons were spent half in recovery mode whilst the other half of ourselves enjoyed many hours walking around both the Little and Big Wild Goose Pagodas. I haven't visited them since I was here with Aussie Judy sometime around mid 2006 and it was cool play the Tour Guide for another friend who has come to visit me this month. It was extremely nice to get away from the overbearing traffic sounds that seemed to boom and crash through my head like a Venom and Kreator re-union gig would.
 
Those of course would be more than welcome.
 
Late Sunday afternoon found Brad and I saying our sad good byes near the Arts District as he was off to Hua Shan early Monday morning and I of course would be acting like a Chicken or a Duck in the classroom at around the same time he would be taking his first steps in his eight hour climb to the top of the west peak. Upon arrival I'm sure he would then slump into a hostel bunk for the night to awaken to watch the sunrise early the Tuesday morning.
 
Oh yeah, for Aussie Judy and Kylie, Brad and his wife are officially known as Mr & Mrs Smith in Guangxi!
 
I always knew his wife was also in the Police force but I never actually knew what her job was until Brad mentioned they were now known as Mr & Mrs Smith. So, Mr Smith (being Brad) is a very well known Drug Squad Policeman and Mrs Smith (being Brad's wife) is actually a kung fu expert along with being what is the equivalent of an American SWAT Team member.
 
That my friends is a very lethal marriage!
 
Believe me, I will offer to do both the washing up and take the dust bins out in the near future when hopefully Luo Wei and I head down south to visit friends in Yangshuo, Nanning, Tianyang and Baise!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
PS: photos can be found beneath the info on both Pagodas and Mike TV.
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The soundtrack to this entry was by the Meat Puppets
The album was 'to High To Die'
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Who The Bloody Hell Are 'Mike TV'
 
The band (Mike TV used to be called Pickled Dick) have previously recorded fourteen track debut album 'Panda-moanium' (2005) and a follow-up six track E.P. 'Exercise Your Demons' (2006). Both discs were independently released under the name Pickled Dick, through their own label Don't Rush Me Records.
 
They played over 600 shows in the UK and mainland Europe since their formation in 2000, without the help of any major or independent record label. They performed at Guilfest and 'Wasted/Rebellion' Festivals held in Blackpool Winter Gardens and Amsterdam's prestigious Melkweg venue. They also toured with Sonic Boom Six, Howards Alias, Jesse James, Adequate Seven, The Fight and supported Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their UK tour in mid 2007, playing such venues as London's Kentish Town Forum and Carling Academy's in Birmingham and Newcastle. The band then followed all that up with a headline UK tour in late 2007, including topping the bill at Camden Underworld. They played with everyone from Gallows to Elliot Minor. They also won the Jagermeister 'National songwriting competition' in 2007. Their track is used to promote the Jagermeister advertising campaign.
 
"Many of their songs are very intricate and longish, to the point where I described them as "bloody rock operas", but with their three-part harmonies and stop-on-a-dime changes, they're also incredibly catchy. Pickled Dick get my vote as one of England's better pop-punk bands today." - Larry Livermore, founder of Lookout Records (Green Day).
 
The Official Mike TV website
Mike TV's My Space
 
Small Wild Goose Pagoda

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda, sometimes Little Wild Goose Pagoda, is one of two significant pagodas in the city of Xi'an, China, the site of the old Han and Tang capital Chang'an. The other notable pagoda is the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, originally built in 652 and restored in 704. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda was built between 707-709, during the Tang Dynasty under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (r 705-710). The pagoda stood 45 m (147 ft) until the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake. The earthquake shook the pagoda and damaged it so that it now stands at a height of 43 m (141 ft) with fifteen levels of tiers. The pagoda has a brick frame built around a hollow interior, and its square base and shape reflect the building style of other pagodas from the era.
 
During the Tang Dynasty, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda stood across a street from its mother temple, the Dajianfu Temple. Indian pilgrims brought sacred Buddhist writings to the temple and pagoda from India, as the temple was one of the main centers in Chang'an for translating Buddhist texts. The temple was older than the pagoda, since it was founded in 684, exactly 100 days after the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649-683).
 
Emperor Zhongzong had donated his residence to the building of a new temple here, maintaining the temple for 200 monks in honor of his deceased father Gaozong. The temple was originally called the Daxianfusi or Great Monastery of Offered Blessings by Zhongzong, until it was renamed Dajianfusi by Empress Wu Zetian in 690.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda or Big Wild Goose Pagoda, is a Buddhist pagoda located in southern Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China. It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveller Xuanzang.
 
The original pagoda was built during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649-683), then standing at a height of 54 m (177 ft). However, this construction of rammed earth with a stone exterior facade eventually collapsed five decades later. The ruling Empress Wu Zetian had the pagoda rebuilt and added five new stories by the year 704 AD. However, a massive earthquake in 1556 heavily damaged the pagoda and reduced it by three stories, to its current height of seven stories. The entire structure leans very perceptibly (several degrees) to the west. Its related structure, the 8th century Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, only suffered minor damage in the 1556 earthquake (still unrepaired to this day). The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was extensively repaired during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and renovated again in 1964.
 
The pagoda currently stands at a height of 64 m (210 ft) tall.
From the top it offers views over the current city of Xi'an.
 
During the Tang Dynasty the pagoda was located within the grounds of a monastery, within a walled ward of the larger southeastern sector of the city, then known as Chang'an. The monastic grounds around the pagoda during the Tang Dynasty had ten courtyards and a total of 1,897 bays. Close by the pagoda is the Temple of Great Maternal Grace; Da Ci'en. This temple was originally built in AD 589 and then rebuilt AD 647 in memory of his mother Empress Wende by Li Zhi who later became the Tang Emperor Gaozong.
 
The monk Xuanzang's statue stands in front of the temple area.