19
Jul

Old & New

We played tourist again today, this time at Yueyang Tower.

(Photos at bottom of post today.)

Dong Ting Lake is the second largest lake in China.  Situated on its banks is the tower.  Three stories high (probably taller due to its highest peak), it was once used to signal war ships in the lake.  We were told it was built 600 years ago, during the Ching dynasty.  The breeze off the lake was very, very welcome today!  We took the opportunity to saunter through the park area leading to and from the tower and took plenty of photos.  Samuel really enjoyed playing with the Koi fish in the tower’s moat.  He loved that when he’d wave his arms or put his hands in the water they would come or flee depending on his motions.  Stephen almost had Samuel convinced that he had control of “the force” ala Star Wars.

We followed up our visit to the tower with a quick stop at a shop for a paper fan for myself (NEED MORE AIR MOVEMENT!) and a few trinkets for Samuel from Grandma, to be doled out on our drive back to Changsha in a couple days.

Lunch was at a local restaurant where we shared a private room with a local family.  They had cuuuute twin boys dressed exactly alike. Such good food!  Apparently hot soup and tea with a side of spicy, spicy peppers is just the thing when you are in the height of a hot humid summer!  Good for us and truly mouthwatering too.

After a long nap in the a/c of the hotel (totally spoiled, I know!), we drove out to the shopping area near the lake.  We walked the side street market areas, exchanged hellos with several local motorcycle taxi drivers, had our picture taken with a woman in an inflatable Lego costume, and ended up asking the guide (“Matthew” who is studying pharmacology in Toronto during the school year) to see if we could see inside a KTV (karaoke) bar.  Yes, we could have gone to one in Vancouver, but what’s the fun in that?  After a quick permission from the guards at the door of an alley side KTV entrance, we took an elevator up to the 3rd floor.  Hosts lined the entrance, a cashier desk and liquor/snack shop were off the opulent foyer.  Down a long hallway with numbered rooms, the hosts showed us to a private room.  There were two booths to sit in, a computer to choose your songs and a flat screen to view your videos.  The corner featured a tambourine and dice for drinking games.  We didn’t take them up on their offer to try it out, but we did take a picture with one of the young hosts.  Dare, excitement?  She seemed pleased and didn’t even ask to have a picture taken on her own phone, but on our camera?!  We survived the experience, but I thought our young guide might have wished that the floor would open up an swallow him when he realized the video being shown above the elevator was a tad explicit! When we finally all piled into the van, he let out a deep sigh and a nervous laugh.  I think we gave him more than he had bargained for!  LOL

He dropped us at our hotel and Mom and Dad walked me down the block to where they had seen the older ladies dancing in the parking lot of the shopping centre.  Something different than what we had seen before though, as there were inflatable pools filled with goldfish that could be caught with dough balls, other pools filled with toy fish for the catching and a giant inflatable sandbox filled with seed for the children to dig in with sand toys.  Nearby there were pottery painting stations where children could have their very own “Color Me Mine” experience right there.  We swapped hellos with a few people, witnessed some naughty boys and enjoyed watching the kids in their element in the hot, dark evening lit up by the parking lot lighting.  The backdrop to it all was the pop music blaring from giant speakers that the women were dancing to all led by groups of dance leaders in coordinating dance costumes.

Like Stephen has said throughout our time here, we are enjoying going where the locals are.  It’s so much better to be where they like to be.DSC_7489 DSC_7522 DSC_7559 DSC_7564 DSC_7616 DSC_7647 DSC_7654 DSC_7715 DSC_7716 DSC_7743 DSC_7745 DSC_7776 DSC_7788

 

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