Nanchang - Day 10 (Saturday)

It is a little hard to believe that we have been at this for ten days. Tomorrow will be our last day in Nanchang. Ileana and I will be splitting up for the day. I will be going to Lushan Mountain (the biggest tourist site in this part of China) and Ileana will be going to the public market. Ileana has had it with long Chinese Bus rides and has decided to stay behind. Though I don’t love the bus rides but I doubt I’ll be back in these parts so I am taking advantage of the trip. Hopefully it will be worth it.

After the trip to the village, our tenth day was balanced out with a visit to one of Nanchang’s more popular department stores. With the help of Mary, our tour guide, we bought Sophie some traditional children’s music on VCD. Hopefully it will work at home. Sophie loves being carried around in her Mei Tai but was a little overwhelmed with the store. As usual, she caused quite a stir with everyone we saw. After this trip, we went back to the hotel and ate the lunch buffet for the first time. It was expensive but great. Sophie loved the banana and the broccoli (despite mommy’s protestations, daddy also gave her some ice cream).

The weather today was ridiculous. It went over 100 but the humidity was only 40% (still insane). Ileana decided to join the other women and their daughters at their usual play site (in our elevator lobby). It is always great to see all of the kids together. I took the time to walk down to the pavilion to do some sketching. The endeavor was a bit better than yesterday but I smeared a few drawings with the shower of sweat coming off of me (nice visual, huh?). Perhaps I’ll post a sketch if I can get it photographed.

I got to walk around the pavilion a bit more – what an interesting building. I was also able to see the bridge from a distance for the first time (smog and haze have prevented an overall view until today (hope you like the pic Ligoz).

When I got back to the hotel, we walked over to Tiffanie’s as Sophie’s hand-made outfit was ready. It was too cute. The whole Jones family had outfits made for themselves. The cute blond is Caleb – a total pisser (can’t you tell by that look!). Eric and Joshua will be going to Lushan tomorrow as well.

This evening’s dinner was at the same restaurant as last night’s. We ate with the Gabriels which is always a treat. Craig entertained us with his stories of receiving acupuncture and “cup massage” treatments earlier in the day. He has these huge “hickies” in the shapes of cups on his back now and he said that it was one of the best experiences he has had since he got her (aside from getting Mia). Sophie had a bit of a meltdown at dinner This is why there are no pics). Oh, there is one pic - I almost forgot. See how Sophie loves her noodles!!! We are not sure why she had the meltdown. Perhaps it was that she (we) filled her mouth with too much potato and she couldn’t swallow. Either way, she still had plenty of noodles and broccoli so I am sure she is not going to starve.

Finally, I forgot to mention, Sophie took her first swim today. Mommy says that all went well and tried to get her to pose prior to going swimming. I'll have to bring along the camera next time we swim.

-Chris