Rest Day

October 14, 2015

We did not have any adoption appointments today and our guide was busy this morning so we got off to a slow start (which was fine with us). 

Pre-breakfast Drinks

Daddy and His Boys

Isaiah seems to get antsy when we stay in our room for too long so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a walk.  There is a river that goes through Guiyang which is not far from our hotel.  On either side there are several parks and landscaped areas.  This is where we headed.  On the way we came across this gentleman creating beautiful Chinese characters using what basically looked like a large Q-Tip.  It had a hose attached to the top and he had a water bag on his back.  We don't know what he was writing but the art of the characters was amazingly detailed considering the device he was using.  By the time we walked back all of the characters had dried and were gone.

Calligrapher

Chinese Characters with Water

We ended up in Peoples Square, where we found this unusual gold structure (you could go up to the top but we chose to avoid the stairs).  We asked Jerry later and he said it was designed to replicate a wind instrument commonly used in the Guiyang area.  Under the structure was an amphitheater where dancers were practicing.  We also saw many Tai Chi groups practicing, an interesting ball and net activity being practiced (it looked more like a dance than a sport) and people waiting for enough wind to fly their kites. 

Walking with Daddy

Catching a Ride
(Isaiah does NOT like the stroller 
and he was perfectly content to hide.)

When we returned to the hotel we had lunch and relaxed for a few hours.

Noodles for Lunch

Later in the afternoon we went to the Jiaxiu Building which was built in the mid-1500's.  The architecture reminded us of the buildings we saw in Beijing at the Forbidden City and Summer Palace in 2013.  The Jiaxiu Building is set in the middle of a bridge that leads to a larger compound of buildings.  Inside the compound there were several different courtyards and gates.  In one of the courtyards there was a member of a local artist group who was hand painting fans.  We chose to get one as a representation of the time spent in Isaiah's home city of Guiyang (we have several paintings from Zeke's province in our living room).