National Day Adventure

To celebrate China National Day (or at least to take advantage of Rob's work holiday and the beautiful weather) we decided to go to Nanhu Park. I had read that there wea supposed to be a big flower and plant display. That we never saw, but enjoyed the park nevertheless.

It is the biggest park we have gone to, though not the biggest park in the area. It was nice to get out of the city rush and noises and enjoy nature and a bit of quiet. It is already October and nice days like these won't be around much longer. I think secretly (or not so secretly, we just don't speak Chinese) people were suprised to see us without jackets on. At least I wasn't wearing open toed shoes! The calendar seems to dictate what one should wear more than the weather does. True, it wasn't HOT today, but it was odd seeing everyone with a jacket or sweatshirt or something on.

The river was full of paddle boats and a few row boats. On one side of the park there were a bunch of little kiddie rides and even a big ferris wheel. We decided to be wild and crazy and spend a whole $1.25 so that we could see an exhibit in the park. I call it an exhibit, because I

am not really sure what it was supposed to be. It seemed kind of random to us. The entrance had some small birds in cages, a few peacocks, a turkey, and a vulture. There was a small alligator, some rabbits, pot bellied pigs, fish, and some interesting little paths and building structures. Things were interesting, but kind of random. It made me think of someone who had a nice sized yard and some animals who decided, hey why not charge admission to our yard and see if people want to come and see it?

At one point in the day, we were sitting on a bench taking a break from walking and just enjoying the surroundings. A group of people were walking by and stopped. One of the ladies stood by a tree and another member of the group took her picture. They were trying to get us in the picture with her, but discretely. I recognized what they were doing and made eye contact with the photographer, nodded, and smiled. The group swarmed us, pushing a small girl to us so they could get a picture of her with us. She cried and didn't want to get anywhere near us. The others took turns sitting on the bench with us and getting their pictures taken. I wish I had thought to give them my camera too. We probably have more opportunities to have our picture taken with random Chinese people than they do to have their pictures taken with Americans. (The picture off to the right is from the exhibit, it is not the people who had their picture taken with us.)

Well, this is quite a lot of writing about nothing. At least there are a few pictures here for you to enjoy.