3/5 – After a shower with real hot water (several of our recent hotels only had tepid) and a nap, we took a taxi to the Gansu Provincial Museum, about a 40 minute ride in a direction we hadn’t yet seen.  We passed through the modern downtown with tall bank buildings., lots of traffic, and lots of people.  We are here to see the famous first century CE bronze statue called the Flying Horse of Gansu, a horse that runs so fast, he appears to fly.  He is shown with three feet off the ground, and his hind foot stepping on a little bird, who looks up at the horse in surprise.  Here it is.  It’s only about 12 inches tall, so you can’t really see the bird.



The museum also had a Buddhist Art exhibit, with statues from various grottoes, and prayer wheels.



Those big, decorated columns are prayer wheels – grab a handle at the bottom and spin to send your prayers heavenward.



There was also an exhibit with lots of dinosaur bones.  These pix are for you, Lexi!



We walked outside to see… Snow!  Enough winter already!  By the time we got back to our hotel, everything was slippery, and I found that I am very afraid of falling again.  I think I held Jim’s hand so tight, I cut off his circulation.  Get me to some nice, warm weather, please!  We walked a block to have supper at yet another noodle restaurant – I always associated Chinese food with rice, but here in the northwest, it’s all about noodles.  Happy to report that I am acquiring some proficiency using chopsticks with my left hand – otherwise, I might starve!