We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

Today has been a good day. Everyone slept until 7 and was pretty lazy until we ate breakfast around 9. Fisher eats really well and eats just about whatever is in front of him. Breakfast is always an adventure with the staff as getting a high chair is a major ordeal. They must take the one we get every morning to the basement when we leave because it takes about 10 minutes the next morning to locate it again. Then getting coffee, even though it's basically the same word in Chinese, takes another 5 minutes. It's not really that bad, just kind of funny it's the same routine each morning so we have to laugh about it. 

Bailey, Fisher, I and Louise went to what I am told is the largest Buddhist temple in the area, Dazhao Temple. It was apparent we weren't in the Bible belt for sure! The odd thing is there were various types of Buddhas that differing folks were paying respects and praying to. Our guide was explaining how it was like praying to our God in America. Uh, ok if you say so. I guess we do "worship" a lot of different deities as Americans, but as a culture we typically agree on a single God. It was strange seeing the different Buddhas that you could pray to all in the same location, just different buildings. We walked there this morning through the city which was quite a site seeing everything close up on foot. For those of you with those images of amoeba like swarms of bicycles careening around the city, you would be like me, surprised and wondering where are all of the bicycles? It is apparent the bicycle is dying a slow death as the cars have begun choking the roadways pushing the bikes onto the sidewalks and other not so easy navigable areas. All in the name of progress and modernization. I would not propose to deny anyone their desire to own a car or improve their lot in life, but I feel like I'm looking backward in time while we are here and know where they are headed as we have seen it in America. Much of the historical images we have in our minds and have seen over the years are fading away with what appears to be prosperity and improvements, we'll see.

Fisher crashed hard in the stroller walking back to the hotel so we just left him in there upon return, he is a really hard sleeper! Another fireworks show in front of the hotel didn't awaken him from this slumber. I snuck to the pool for a few laps which didn't last long before Melissa had him in tow looking for me. While my workout ended, we got him in the pool for the first time. I think it was indeed his first time in a pool. After a bit of trepidation he warmed up to it really quick and we had a great time in the kiddy pool for the afternoon. He eventually was shivering uncontrollably as he got cold, but was absolutely distraught I bundled him up and left, just like a 3 year old. :-) We'll definitely be doing the pool from here on out to pass some of the time.

Here are some pics from today's walk about the city and temple: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisfreemanca/HohhotCityAndTemple

Here a few more videos from today including some pool time. http://tinyurl.com/yemcnre (if taken to login page, click Need a Password, put in your email and whatever password you want for viewing)