On Wednesday

Our drive into the countryside was more of a drive into the impoverished outskirts of Nanchang.  Our guide, Mary, is a no-nonsense, sensible lady who takes her job of protecting vulnerable American families very seriously.  She hovers around us with a sharp eye to keep anyone from ripping us off and to keep us from endangering ourselves. I like her.  So the area we went to wasn't really rural- it was more of a former village that got swallowed up by the city.  We saw rice fields and a water buffalo.  People dry their rice harvest right on the road and surround the piles of rice with rocks so no one will drive over it.  At one point there was a little boy, about 2, in the middle of the road, and our guide got very concerned because there were no adults around.  She got out of the van to talk to him and tried to send him back down the road to go home.  She told me that every day one reads in the papers about accidents that befall little kids.  She said that the villagers were illiterate (she may have meant ignorant) and don't supervise the children well. 

Everywhere in Nanchang seems to be under construction.  Even in the nicer areas, there are empty lots filled with rubble- it doesn't look like any section or neighborhood is ever finished.

After the tour of the "village" we went to The People's Park, a large urban greenspace with playgrounds and a lake.  Robert and Thomas got to go into the floating balls on the water and run around like hamsters.

After lunch at our routine restaurant, we spent the afternoon in the room.  John took the boys to the pool again.  It's too hot to go out much in the afternoon, and I'm too tired to drag the little ones around. I really want to go shopping, but I don't have the energy.  Having Zhen Zhen is very much like having a newborn, though she's a bit more self-sufficient.  She wants only me, though she's warming up to everyone else.  She needs to be fed and pottied and cuddled and entertained, so I'm pretty exhausted.  She continues to be adorable and charming, and she cracks me up when she gets mad at her brothers for coming to close to her mama- she gets a "thunderstorm" face and the lower lip protrudes and the pucker sound starts.

Today we're going to visit a large pavilion behind the hotel.  It's historical, I guess.  I think they have dance performances or something.

There are more photos uploaded to the photobucket account.