LOU GUAN TAI, China There is only one way into the pagoda, through a small window 10 meters above ground. Climbing the walls would likely land me behind bars: The building is around 1,300 years old and leans as prominently as the Tower of Pisa -- no doubt a result of an earthquake 500 years ago.
What's more, the official on duty isn't exactly handing over the key. I don't have the appropriate papers, he says.
But for all its archaeological aesthetics and picturesque setting, I haven't come all this way merely to stand and gaze at an ancient, seven-story pagoda. It's what is purportedly inside that has aroused my curiosity -- a relief depicting Christ's Nativity.