Wednesday

Wednesday morning we met our guide and visited The Museum of the Mausoleum of the second Nanyue King, Zhao Mo.  Our guide explained that in the 1980s a successful businessman utilized the services of the feng shui master to locate the perfect location to construct a 5-Star hotel.  When excavating the area to build the hotel the 2000 year old tomb was discovered.  The Nanyue King was buried with fifteen human sacrifices and a massive amount of relics - 11,465 to be exact.  The human sacrifices included four concubines and a guard.  These were people that the king wished to have with him in the next life.  We were able to go down into the actual tomb.  There is a multi-level museum containing the relics.  We love history and museums so this was fascinating to us.  The remains of one of the concubines was showcased which looked like ashes and wood pieces.  The king actual teeth and jawbone were on display.  He was buried in a complete suit of jade and the actual jade had been re-laced together and was also on display.  The museum was dark as are many museums and flash photography was not allowed so I did not get many photos.

In the middle of all of the ancient history was a very modern play area.  The girls had fun playing in it while Billy continued browsing the museum.  Admission is 12 yuan and was included in the amount of money paid to our agency for our guide.

We returned to the hotel for Maya Grace to nap.  She is just the most perfect little angel.  She sucks two of her fingers while she sleeps.  It is absolutely adorable but sad at the same time.  This was obviously a learned way to self-soothe while being in the orphanage.

Daddy went to McDonald's and brought lunch back to the hotel.  Maya Grace likes chicken nuggets! We then ventured out on our own to a beautiful park. If you walk out to the left of the Garden Hotel stay on the left side of the street and continue past the McDonald's Pizza Hut and Tekila's  you come to a large intersection. Turn left.  You will then pass a hospital building on the left which says Aids Research.  You will see a pedestrian bridge which crosses over the road.  Cross the bridge and go left.  After you pass the bus stop area you see the gate to enter the park.  It is called Martyr's Park.  It is massive.  There was a children's area with amusement park rides and a large playground area.  It does not cost to enter the park but there was a small cost for the rides.

In the center of the park was a massive pavilion type structure.  There were men playing traditional Chinese instruments.  There were older people doing Tai Chi.  Younger people were seen playing badmitton.  There were men playing cards.  There was a place to rent boats to go out on the lake.  There was an outdoor exercise area for adults that looked like a large adult playground.  How I wish that there were places like this where we live.  There is such a sense of community and togetherness here among the people that we do not have in our community.  Here are the girls expending some energy.

We returned to the hotel before dark.  After dark beggars come out in the street.  It is extremely unsettling.  Billy went out for more noodles and the day was done!