Backing Up - Day 2 With Ellie

I am going to cut in and catch up on Day 2 with Ellie that was never posted about.

Ellie had a great night sleep and woke up bright eyed and ready to go.

The smiles and giggles began.

We decided to go The Tengwang Pavilion for the day.

The Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang is one of the three famous towers south of the Yangtze River. The tower stands on the bank of the Ganjiang River. In 659, the Governor of Hongzhou, Li Yuanying (brother of Li Shimin, Emperor of the Tang dynasty) built a tower for his villa on the bank of the Ganjiang River. 

People called it Tengwang pavilion when he was made the Prince of Teng. In the later years the tower became a gathering place for scholars to recite poems and sing. The famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Bo, wrote a famous essay here, "Notes on Tengwang Pavilion", which made the pavilion even more well-known. 

The tower has been destroyed 28 times, and in 1983 it was rebuilt. It is 45 meters high with an area of 5,600 square meters. From the exterior the tower appears that it has three stories, but inside it actually has five.

Ellie freely goes back and forth between Eric and myself which is a huge blessing.  Most of the time when we are out and about we let her hang with her daddy.  I told her today to soak it all up because when we get back to the "real" world he has to go back to work and there is no way I am letting him take his little princess with him. 

We listened to a performance on the copper bells in the pavilion.

This is the view from the pavilion.  I loved all these barges and the Nanchang Ferris Wheel known as the Nanchang Star is in the background. 

Ellie was pretty content through the whole tour.

By the time we were done she was fast asleep.

We walked down the street to a yummy little place for lunch.  

In most restaurants they have the dishes laid out raw and you stand and point and order instead of from a menu. 

Mary has been such an amazing guide and we were able to hear her story today.  She shared with us about her family and told us about her two children.  She began sharing about how she had two children when they were born under the "one child policy." She shared about how when she was pregnant with her daughter she went into hiding so no one knew she was pregnant.  She said if they found out they would take her into the clinic and force an abortion.  She said she had friends that people told on them and the police would come in and take them out of their homes and bring them to the clinics.  I can't even imagine living in that fear.  When her daughter was born she had to register her and then pay a fine.  She said typically at that time the fine was 2 years wages of the father and mother, incredible! She knew someone in government so they helped lessen the fine.  She did say she still lives under punishment from the government and can't get advances in her job because she has a second child. It was pretty amazing to hear from Mary today too just like Miki.  It gives us a glimpse into the system that leaves so many little ones as orphans. 

We asked her about the one child policy now and she said it isn't as strict.  Moms don't have to go into hiding when they are pregnant but still need to pay a fine.  Government workers may only have one child and if they have more they get fired.  Again hearing all this first hand was incredible and just so hard to comprehend. She did say many in the villages can still only afford one child, they can't afford the fee.

After lunch we went to the local grocery store.  We had to get Ellie some smaller diapers.  

We also decided to get a formula that is supposed to be better on her little tummy! 

We went to a local place for dinner.  It was a bit of over stimulation for me, I can't imagine how Ellie felt.

We had great food but Eric and I decided we would prefer the smaller quaint restaurants.

People were cooking in open areas through out the restaurant.  

There were fish tanks that you could just go and point to the fish or sea creature you wanted them to cook up to eat. 

After dinner we went to the water show in Nanchang.

We were there a little early so we decided to walk by the little shops that people were cooking up some local food! We took a couple steps and smelled the aroma of stinky tofu and turned right back around. If you have ever been to China you know just the smell I am talking about!

The light show next to the river was beautiful. 

Check this spray of water out! 

We had a great day taking in some of Nanchang!