Out and About in Nanchang

We have seen some of the sights and had new experiences for the past two days while waiting for the babies' passports to be completed.  Our guide took us to a place which was something like a vertical flea market.  Many booths were crammed in one building.  We purchased a CD of traditional Chinese lullabies and some darling shoes.  The Chinese women generally seem to be about shoes and purses!  Lots of hair additions and nail options were available too.  Anya purchased a scarf which has provided much entertainment in terms of imaginative play.  Today we also shopped for porcelain since that is Nanchang's claim to fame.  Little Miss Avery observed and enjoyed the activities except for napping.

We ate at Chinese restaurants for the past two days with the aid of our Chinese guide.  She explained our choices and helped us order many fine things to share.  We had eggplant, lotus root, and various unknown items which we may never have tried for (justifiable) fear of accidentally ordering donkey meat, pig's head or other supposed delicacies.  Anya was brave and tried some things; Kristie, not so much.  Avery sat in a highchair, called a "baby sitter."

A very interesting stop for us today was a park.  We had not seen anything much but pavement and had asked if there was any place to go for a walk.  The vegetation was interesting but we did note the most common trees were Sycamores.  There was a fabulous exercise area for adults where we saw men playing badminton without a net, people stretching, and adults of all ages using the permanent, playground-type exercise equipment in the open air.  Who needs a cross country skiing machine or an eliptical trainer when these machines are available?

There were also amusement park type rides.  Anya and Ginny took advantage of the bumper cars and the swinging chairs.  There were Chinese style paddle boats.  We also included a photo of Ginny looking tall (and proud of it).  Her son Thomas had noted this was the trip for her to finally be taller than some of the resident adult population.  Kristie was admonished three different times by older Chinese women who did not approve of Avery showing a quarter inch of skin between her sock top and pant leg (pulled up due to the baby carrier).  They usually bundle the babies up in 5 layers for normal activities, let alone taking them outside in cold weather.