Beautiful Pavilion, But There's No Place Like Home

Addie seemed to be feeling much better today, and she slept very well last night. Today we visited the Tengwang Pavilion which was built during the Tan Dynasty in 653 A.D. This nine story pavilion perched on the banks of the Gan River is very beautiful, and the detailed paintings are impressive. The Gan River itself is terribly polluted, and our outing today proved to be an experience in handling smells which we are not in any way used to. Today everywhere we went we were stopped, and people would swarm around the baby. We had no idea what they were saying, but our guide would translate much of it for us. They wanted to know where she would live when we returned to the United States. Younger people asked why if I already had one girl would I want another. Other people actually thanked us for giving an orphan a home. One thing I quickly noticed was that I was being scolded in some way by older Chinese women. I had to ask what they were saying. When I found out I was shocked. They felt she would catch cold because she was so scantily dressed. Imagine this, as today was 92 degrees and humid. I had trouble moving because my clothes clung to my sweaty body. To battle the heat, Bayley decided to be like the locals who use umbrellas not for rain but for shade. Nevertheless, our guide explained that traditional Chinese culture believes babies under two should be bundled regardless of the temperature.

After visiting the pavilion, we went to a large local market with no set prices. Bayley really enjoyed this, and our wonderful guide Echo helped with the bartering. Bayley found some great Chinese fans, and I decided to honor the older Chinese women by buying some leggings to go with Addie's summer dresses for when we are out and about in the next few days. This part of the market was very enjoyable. A bit different and maybe not to our liking was the food section. The open air food sales of beef and soup would not measure up to health standards we expect at home. Luckily we had a late buffet breakfast at the hotel, so we weren't hungry anyway.

Addie had lots of fun today. I do not think she had ever touched grass before. At the pavilion garden she kept looking at it and lurching forward in her carriage to touch it. When I placed a bunch in her hands, she was thrilled with the strange green matter. She is definitely teething and just about chewed the strap off my pocketbook. When I tried to redirect her to a more sanitary teething toy, she lunged at my hand, and I got quite a bite. Beware brothers!! Since then she has inhaled several Gerber Biter biscuits. Another thing that she likes is tea. Just like her brothers and sister, this girl likes to slurp warm tea with a bit (quite a bit) of sugar. With all of the sugar intake today, Bayley worried that we should snap to it in terms of her dental hygiene, so we found the baby toothbrush we had packed. We tried to brush her teeth, but were met with growl sounds. She did manage just fine when we let her handle it herself. I dare say she may be developing an independent streak already. Only two more days and we head to the very southern city of Guangzhou where we will stay for the last three days of our journey, and then HOME. If only I had some ruby red slippers right now -"There's no place like home!"