Current location:	Dayuan Cun, China
Current mood:	chipper
Entry tags:	friends, fuzhou, vacation

National Holiday Vacation!
When I last updated, Karen and I were standing at the side of the road with a bunch of Chinese people, waiting for the replacement bus after the first one broke down on the way to Fuzhou.

Of course, the replacement finally did come, even though it was just short of the time that our fellow-travelers had told me they were considering the company's deadline. If they had taken any longer, we were going to call the police to bring us home, because we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

So, we got to our friends' house, and we spent a lovely, relaxing week with them. We saw some sights, but didn't stress ourselves out with trying to see everything.




Our hosts, with Karen.



Beautiful ancient stone carving at Xi Hu (West Lake)(Not the famous one, I gather, but one in Fuzhou.)



Lovely propagand-tastic statue of Mao. Doesn't he look like Buddha, blessing the populace? (The town square is across from it.)



Glowy bracelets!



Wood carving, also at Xi Hu.



Panda! We went to a place called "Panda World", which only had a few pandas, but it was fun, nonetheless. I'm still totally going to the big panda park where you can touch them when I get around to Chengdu, though.



Butterfly garden, at Panda World.



Red Panda. I totally want one as a pet.



You'll never guess what I'm eating here...and liking! Mushrooms. I love these mushrooms. The thing is, I always told people that I hate mushrooms, but the truth is that I only hate the nasty mushy gray ones that are pretty much the only ones used in the U.S. I like several kinds of mushroom that they use here in China. And I really loved the way these were prepared!



Some more friends who we spent an afternoon with. The lady on the left prepared the delicious mushrooms. They then rented some double bikes with us, and we biked around the park! It was great fun.



Climbing a mountain near Fuzhou.





Lovely views from near the top.



There were paved paths, but we didn't always choose to use them. :-D


Also, another short video clip: They have these great Firework Lights all over in China, and I've never seen them at home. This is at the town square, Fuzhou.

P.S. I now hate Photobucket, and am currently enjoying Picasa. I kind of wish it wouldn't shrink the photos so much when I post them here, but I guess it's easier for readers who don't have fast connections.