Teng Wang Ge Pavilion

i am pre-posting this entry just in case i have difficulty writing to the blog while in China. This pavilion is located in Nanchang, and from what i read, has had a very turbulent past. it was built in the year 653 and because of war or poor construction has been rebuilt practically ever 20-40 years. I have counted 11 fires that have burnt it down completely and it has been rebuilt a total of 29 times over the centuries. it mainly serves as a tourism attraction and is now a landmark in Nanchang. You can climb to the 6th story and see most of the city and river. We should be visiting this landmark on Jan 12-13. it looks beautiful, I love the architecture and i am excited to visit.

Leaving Nanchang

We are leaving in just a few minutes and I wanted to jot down a few notes about our stay here in Nanchang.
-They are building a new airport right next to the old one, it's going to be huge.
-When we arrived it was hazy and we discovered it was because of all the construction in the area was allowing the dirt and dust to blow around, it was a hazy red.
-This city is huge, it seems to go on forever. it has 4 million people in it, that is considered small!
-The hotel is beautiful, however the beds are incredibly hard, like nothing I knew could exist. It's like they took a sheet and put it on the dinning room table and called it a bed. Every hour we wake to turn because we are so sore.
-Right now they are on a no honking restriction, if they are caught they can get a ticket. I can only imagine the sound when it picks up.
-Because of the Chinese new year, or they call it spring festival there are firecracker going off many times during the day, sometimes they last 3-5 minutes and go day and night.
-We seem to be a big spectical here, everywhere we walk crowds of people gather to see the babies, they touch their cheeks and hold up two fingers, as if to ask twins. Then they give us thumbs up. This includes adult men, children and all women.
-there is a lot of construction going on in the city, two huge hotels are going up across the street.
-the girls are eating congee, rice and formula, they are in size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.
-the girls are able to sit on their own for a bit longer now and are grabbing for toys. When they are close to each other they try to steal the others toys.
-All areas in china they are allowed to smoke cigarettes. The lobby is full of smoke, hallways, even in the elevators. Everywhere you go it smells like smoke.
- we are allowed to pack up to 44 pounds per suitcase. Yikes.
Gotta run.