Last Monday, while my sister was here, my Ayi arranged to take us on a trip. As with all things that are discussed and planned in Chinese, I wasn't too clear on exactly what we were going to be doing.
First, we took a bus to a place where we could meet up with our other friends who were going and our Ayi.
Then we walked to another bus, which thankfully was air conditioned since we were on it for an hour and a half.
We arrived at a large park named the "2008 Olympic Sculpture Park". It had a large man-made lake in the center where you could take paddle boats, a small carnival area with bumper cars and a few other things, and life size bronze statues of all of the Chinese 1st place winners.
We had a nice time wandering around and took paddle boats and ate icecream, but it was incredibly hot and sticky!
Lizbeth and her Ayi
The locusts were again everywhere and incredibly loud!
Friends
A Statue
Hot and Sweaty for all
Bubbles!
Pretty girl
Lizbeth fell in love with her Shu Shu (Ayi's husband). She had met him once before but they really hit it off this time. He carried her everywhere and she even took a nap in his arms. Ayi told me last Wednesday that he misses her already.
Paddle Boats
Lizbeth wasn't so keen on sitting still
After lunch we all went to have lunch together
Some of the group went home after lunch but Ayi had planned for us to go to an indoor amusement park. We were actually quite impressed with it, although it was quite expensive for the rides, between $1.50 and $4.50 per ride. They might have an all day special but we're not sure.
Double Decker Carousel
Pirate Ship (we all went on this one and it was quite fun)
Lizbeth had conked out by the time we got to the amusement park. Poor baby. All day was too long for her.
After she woke up we took her to the bounce house before leaving the park.
By 4:00 we were all exhausted and ready to be home. Unfortunately, the trip home was where the adventure really began. We waited for a long time for the bus, paid the 4.5 kuai fare (most buses are 1-2 kuai) and got on ready to relax-only to have it break down...TWICE! My ayi argued for a long time with the bus attendant to get our fares back (even calling the supervisor), then we had to take another two buses and a taxi to get home...totaling nearly four hours! Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we arrived after 8:00 PM. Thankfully Lizbeth was amazing through the whole ordeal.
It was a fun day, but was definitely a "Chinese" experience. We never really understood what exactly we were doing, had a lot of standing around and waiting time, and a LOT of time on the public bus. These days are always great in that we actually feel as though we are living in China, but we are so thankful to come home to our air conditioned and comfortable apartment!
