People's Park

Little girl is sleeping extra long for her nap so I had a chance to download and now upload some more pics and video.  Today we had an "official" tour of the People's Park.  We went yesterday on our own after breakfast out of desperation to establish some sort of routine.  The park is very close to our hotel and we don't have to cross the street to get there.  (More on the traffic here in another post.)  It is a wonderful place.  There is grass and we even caught a glimpse of some butterflies and dragonflies.  (Are we sounding a little homesick?)  Matt thought he saw a squirrel but it turned out to be a very large rat :).  It has an amusement park, lake, places of historical interest and lots and lots of walking paths.  There are many retired men and women who gather for ti chi, playing instruments, singing, playing games, etc.  In the lake there are tens of thousands of koi.  Our guide Mary told us that it is considered good luck to feed them so there is no fishing or catching of them allowed.  Good to know :).  In the amusement park there are stands where you can shoot a BB gun at a wall of balloons and if you pop a balloon you win a prize.  In China the citizens are not permitted guns of any type so we were laughing at the thought of Matt sitting down to do this and popping an entire line of balloons.  We were actually almost hysterical at this thought.  Matt said yesterday "people about break their necks" turning around to continue to stare at us after they walk past.  We were told by our agency that in China it is not considered to be rude to stare but wow, we didn't expect this much attention.  In defense of the Chinese here in Nanning, we are not a common sight.  In the seven days we have been here we have seen exactly seven people who were not Chinese in appearance, and they were all in our hotel.  We have seen one woman with wavy hair and one little girl with wavy hair.  Zero with curly hair which I cannot pull back because I am then seemingly unrecognizable to Anna.  We have seen zero men with facial hair as well.  It is also so hot and humid here we are continuously drenched in sweat when out walking around and have yet to see a Nanning native sweating.  Add in us pushing around a Chinese child who insists on wearing an Old Navy baseball hat and holding a toddler spoon in her left hand with her arm completely extended.  I'd probably "about break my neck" too :).

Anna on her ride.

Our WONDERFUL guide Mary.

Flower nursery at the People's Park.  Those are ALL apartment buildings in the background. 

What we see when we go out: Anna's hat on, spoon in hand, arm extended and stares.