More Guiyang

Hey all,

We are still here in Guiyang waiting for Rissa's passport. They say it will be ready on Friday. Its been a really long week and a half but we are coming near the end of this leg of the trip. We have seen most of what there is to see here with our limited knowledge of Chinese. We are ready to go on to Guangzhou. A few more days yet.

Yesterday we went to visit a 600 year old town about an hours drive away. It was very interesting. All the streets were paved with stone with multiple alley ways. We visited a Taoist temple though it is now a musiem. The are not many Taoist in China anymore. There was also a christian church but it is only open on Saturdays. The town was pretty neat but definetly a tourest trap. Alot of shops selling a variety of goods. alot of food stalls but of course nothing Susan would eat. All in all not a bad trip.

The girls have given up naps now. This does tend to make the afternoons more challenging. They get wound up much easier and feed off of each others temperments. We are struglling with who's is who's and she did it first. I can only laugh. I know it will get better as time goes on but its still a challenge.

Today we went downtown to an old school. This was built between the Qing and Ming dynisty and was where students would learn and test for their exams. Most of there study was in the confusious studies and a good student would go on into a government posistion. Neat architecture as the photos show. We then headed to the official government shop. A lot of local foods, cloths and gifts. We spent a good hour in there picking souveniers.

This afternoon we took a strole on what was suppose to be around the block. We the blocks are kind of big here are we kind of got lost. Fortunatly we found a taxi that took us back to the hotel. We were never in any danger but we were defiently not on a major street. We just attract a bunch of looks thats all.

In the evening ,we headed downtown to what is on big outdoor food mart. They shut the street down and vendors open up with all kinds of wild and crazy dishes. Unfortunatly we were told it started at 7pm. We got down there around 6:30. It actually starts around 7:30 so by the time we waited and walked around, we were tired and hungry. So we left just as it was starting. We did get to see the basic gist of it. They do this every night. Its open till like 5am too... Maybe if I cant sleep tonight Ill head down myself...(NOT) We are definetly a spectical. Everyone turns and stares at us. Most people are polite and we get some Hello's now and then. I just laugh it off.

Tomorrow we are headed to a outdoor wild animal park. It should be interesting. Its about a hour and a half drive away but we have nothing else to do here. We are hiring a hotel driver to take us. This is a much safer bet then hiring a cab. More expensive but safer. We feel better about it than getting stuck out in the middle of now where.