Xishan Park

Went out for a day of hiking in Xishan Park today.  The weather was cool and mostly cloudy so a great day to climb some mountains.   

We fed the giant Koi fish on our way across the bridge over the lake.  There were a few Buddhist shrines set into caves in the mountain. 

We climbed another hill and then went to look for lunch.  Since this is a less touristy park, we were only able to find some version of a hotdog and supplemented with our granola bars and fruit leather snacks.   We bought some drinks and headed back up the mountain toward a Pavilion.   

At the pavillion, there was a man playing music on his phone and singing along while facing right up into the mountains.   We gave him the applause he was looking for after each song.   Much to the kids' embarrassment, Dave took this to mean it was totally acceptable for anyone to sing at the top of their lungs up on the mountain : )

Luke and I climbed to the tippy top of the mountains - one photo shows Luke at the top.  We all stopped at another overlook to view the city from above.   We like how the city just fits in around all of the mountains.   

We could pick out some locations we knew from above.  We are starting to get the lay of the land in this city.  It is definitely a more manageable city for us.   It only has a population of 660,000 I think and we are starting to realize it is not too hard to figure out how to get anywhere by bus.   

This is the nice part about being apart from a guide now.  We are starting to figure out what it would be like to live here - at least a little bit.  It is also nice to have the luxury of time and not feel like we have to cram a ton into each day.  

I admit that passing the 2 week mark, 6 weeks here was starting to seem like it would be a long time, especially once we would be on our own.   I feel like we have passed over that hump and are setteling in to the pace of life here.  Dave and I went for a walk yesterday evening while the kids washed dishes and I felt like our little home in this neighborhood was starting to feel better.  I am even getting used to the amount of dirt and cast off garbage.

It is so great to be able to do this trip to China again.  It is so different from our experience when we came to get Neela.  I feel like we are getting to know the culture much better.  However, if Neela ever comes back, I hope she is able to become somewhat proficient in the language before she returns.  That would definitely add a whole new dimension to the experience.  Without the language we are still on the outside looking in.

Marnie