July 10 – Nanchang
Zoe and Emma awaken on their own late enough so that we need to rush breakfast a bit before our 9am meeting with Michelle. Today we are walking a few blocks to the Tengwang Pavilion, which is a beautiful huge pagoda in a park surrounded by coy ponds, weeping willows, and many old smaller structures. Emma, Karen and Zoe ring the “Millennium Bell” for good luck, and place some incense in a pot – the bell is huge – like the Liberty Bell.
We enter the Pavilion where it turns out there is a dancing show in about 1 hour. We make our way to the top floor, which is probably 100 feet above ground and has a small theater for the performance. Emma is a hit again with the locals, and she hands out Seattle post cards and is given a fan by a teenage girl in return.
The performance is very entertaining – live music and traditional dance, and lasts about 30 minutes. We take some photos with the dancers, and then slowly descend the pavilion and stop on each floor to look at some of the crafts for sale – porcelain, carvings, paintings – and also take in the great views of the city and the river.
Michelle takes us to a local restaurant and orders a feast for the group. We fed six adults and three kids, with plenty of food to spare and in our own private room for less than $25 US. I realize I sound like a broken record on the cost of life here, but I still find it astounding how inexpensive things are.
We return to the hotel and a much needed nap for Zoe – she sleeps for 2 hours even though this morning she slept for 45 minutes at the pavilion and last night for 11 hours in her crib. I think we have a good sleeper on our hands.
This afternoon more family bonding. Zoe actually laughs and likes to play games with me, provided I keep a safe distance. We are still working on getting her to separate from Karen a little bit, which at the moment seems to be going well. We will eat dinner in the hotel room tonight to keep the bonding going as long as we can. Unfortunately the swimming pool has been out of commission all week, so patient Emma has gotten her exercise through jump rope and wrestling with Mom and Dad.
We watch a thunderstorm roll in with lightning and soaking rain and enjoy the view from our hotel window where we can watch all of the scooter riders wearing ponchos but otherwise going about their business navigating the crazy traffic and managing not to get hit by all of the busses running through town. All of the white and yellow lines painted on the road seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule when it comes to traffic law in China.
I give Zoe another bath this evening. She screams like it’s the end of the world – and I think she is really amplifying her voice because she thinks Karen cannot hear her. She definitely struggles with me still - lots of tears and protest, but amazingly when Karen gets her again after bath she is immediately calm and contented.
Zoe and Emma awaken on their own late enough so that we need to rush breakfast a bit before our 9am meeting with Michelle. Today we are walking a few blocks to the Tengwang Pavilion, which is a beautiful huge pagoda in a park surrounded by coy ponds, weeping willows, and many old smaller structures. Emma, Karen and Zoe ring the “Millennium Bell” for good luck, and place some incense in a pot – the bell is huge – like the Liberty Bell.
We enter the Pavilion where it turns out there is a dancing show in about 1 hour. We make our way to the top floor, which is probably 100 feet above ground and has a small theater for the performance. Emma is a hit again with the locals, and she hands out Seattle post cards and is given a fan by a teenage girl in return.
The performance is very entertaining – live music and traditional dance, and lasts about 30 minutes. We take some photos with the dancers, and then slowly descend the pavilion and stop on each floor to look at some of the crafts for sale – porcelain, carvings, paintings – and also take in the great views of the city and the river.
Michelle takes us to a local restaurant and orders a feast for the group. We fed six adults and three kids, with plenty of food to spare and in our own private room for less than $25 US. I realize I sound like a broken record on the cost of life here, but I still find it astounding how inexpensive things are.
We return to the hotel and a much needed nap for Zoe – she sleeps for 2 hours even though this morning she slept for 45 minutes at the pavilion and last night for 11 hours in her crib. I think we have a good sleeper on our hands.
This afternoon more family bonding. Zoe actually laughs and likes to play games with me, provided I keep a safe distance. We are still working on getting her to separate from Karen a little bit, which at the moment seems to be going well. We will eat dinner in the hotel room tonight to keep the bonding going as long as we can. Unfortunately the swimming pool has been out of commission all week, so patient Emma has gotten her exercise through jump rope and wrestling with Mom and Dad.
We watch a thunderstorm roll in with lightning and soaking rain and enjoy the view from our hotel window where we can watch all of the scooter riders wearing ponchos but otherwise going about their business navigating the crazy traffic and managing not to get hit by all of the busses running through town. All of the white and yellow lines painted on the road seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule when it comes to traffic law in China.
I give Zoe another bath this evening. She screams like it’s the end of the world – and I think she is really amplifying her voice because she thinks Karen cannot hear her. She definitely struggles with me still - lots of tears and protest, but amazingly when Karen gets her again after bath she is immediately calm and contented.
Zoe falls asleep early, and we watch the city lights out of our window, as well as a local fireworks show across the river. Not sure the reason for the fireworks – I also heard them our first night in town as I was falling asleep. Must be a regular occurrence here.
No comments:
Post a Comment