China 2012 - #1

I just realize that I never posted Journal #1. So here it is:

Wednesday August 1

This is our first time to Mainland China. Some years ago I spent 12 hours in Hong Kong. This time we are really getting to enjoy the culture and beauty of this large country with our son and family. Margaret was born here and she is taking us to her home town. Yesterday we had a great welcome dinner by her step-mom’s side of the family. Tonight it was her father’s side to feed and entertain us. Earlier we visited the Qian Ling Mountain Park. At 10:00am there were over 20,000 in the park. We climbed till we came to the top of a mountain where there was the Hongfu Buddhist temple, and ate lunch there. In the nearby forest were monkeys as we have never seen before! And they were vicious. If you were not looking they would rip from you anything in your possession, especially if there was food in it. Margaret said that this was a slow day. But I’m already at 24,293 pedometer steps! Tomorrow we go on a tour from 6:30am till 8:00pm.

Thursday August 2

We were up this morning to begin a full day doing the tourist thing! We took a tour bus. First stop, a boat ride into the Guanyin Cave – the largest Buddha Hall in China. Then we went through a large Bonsai Garden on the way to the Huanggushu Grand Waterfall – the largest and most spectacular in China. Next we hiked through a beautiful area where there were natural stepping stones and natural root carvings. Finally we stopped at the spectacular Daupotang Waterfalls. Another day with over 25,000 steps!