Day 3 in Nanning

***I was able to get in 2 posts this AM so be sure and read after this one)

Night time in Nanning. They have these beautiful red paper lanterns hanging from the trees that I love seeing everyday, but at night time with the lights it's magical. They are getting ready for Chinese New Year. Nanning is a town of 6 million people. The region of Guangxi is known for it beautiful scenery, production of sugar cane and it's minority class in China. It is not as big as Beijing. It has a more even mix of cars, mopeds & bicycyles. The people are very curious about us gringos knocking around in their city with two asian babies. We receive lots of smiles along with blank stares. In talking with our guide, the people here are worried about the world financial crisis. I have to say that this communist thing really does not work out as "all for one and one for all." They don't have a form of social security and so they save what they can, they cannot own property as all land belongs to the government "for the people." High rise buildings are going up (although not as much as Beijing), but when we asked our guide he said 60% of these buildings stand empty because the people can't afford to live in them. If you work for a company you receive 3 days of vacation after 1 year and 1 week after 5 years. They do have 1 week for New Years, 1 week for National Holiday. The government recognizes 5 religions (Budism, Taoism, Feng Shwa, Catholism, Christianity) and we are told that about 10 years ago the government said it was okay to have beliefs as it might help give the people some relief. Our guide said that the young generation don't believe in God as it is taught that there is none in school throughout their whole education.

Happy family of 3 now - love saying that. We are at a place called "The Park on the Mountain."

Entry into park. The weather has been beautiful with not alot of pollution....some haze, but warm high 60's and sunny. The Hays are from a northern climate like us so we are the odd people not wearing coats all day. We do bundle our children though as this would not go over well with the locals and we want to leave for home with them.

These were hanging in the trees in the entry way......love them

95% of China come from the Han people (which is Mandarin) and the other 5% are made up of 25 minority groups of Chinese. China wants to preserve these groups so they receive better benefits from the government (easier entrance/guarantee for higher education and if there is any rationing of food/meat, they are able to get things that the Mandarins are not and they can have more children) That kind of explains to me why the majority of orphans come from the southern part of China where the poverty is greater and they need boys to work the fields and take care of the parents in their old age

Love this shot that Darryl took

1 other thing that Guangxi is know for, the bronze drums

Having the time of our lives

This was fun to walk through.....Darryl was a little unsure about this thing.....Dan kept telling him, stop walking like a princess and get across this thing.......it was pretty crickety......but funny watching Darryl taking dainty steps.

Pagoda that was built to honor the soliders who faught/lost their lives in WWII against the Japanese in taking this area. The park sits on the highest point in Nanning.

View from above looking back at downtown Nanning

River below.....

Local garbage recylcing truck

Sweet moment in the car with Liliah. She slept off and on all day.....I think it's finally caught up with her

Woke up just in time for lunch

This wasn't lunch........feeding frenzy @ the park while Bethany tossed in some fish kibbles n bits

More park

Lunch on our first day on our own. McDonald's never looked so good. We've actually only eaten 3 western meals since getting here. Even for breakfast, I've been eating local cuisine along with a few american breakfast items as those are few. The food though I must say has been outstanding and none of us has had any stomach issues