I Love Me Some Xuzhou!

We could barely keep our eyes open at dinner last night so we tuckered out pretty early. Breakfast at this hotel is so-so (it is no J.W. Marriott in Beijing!) but you do get to eat with famous celebrities...

Ms. Tang and the driver picked us up at 9:30... we needed the sleep-in!  The first thing she asked Johnathan was if he missed her.  He said yes and told her that he had been been a good boy this morning (he conveniently left out the part of the story where he threw a water bottle across the room!).  When she said that she had heard about him throwing the bottle he acted like he couldn't hear her.  It was actually too cute :0

We drove across Xuzhou to Yunlong Mountain (Cloud Dragon Mountain).  It is really quite beautiful.  Xuxhou is actually surrounded my mountains and they are treated so reverently...  you can tell that the local people are very proud of their mountains.  Yunlong Mountain has a Buddhist temple on one side where you can worship Buddha (and other Buddhist deities) as you climb up the mountain (so there are different "layers" going up with steep steps in between).  It is a working temple so it was wonderfully enlightening to watch them worship.  The air smelled of incense and there was music playing everywhere... what at atmosphere!

When we reached the highest point of the temple, a 1000 year old giant statue of Buddha, there was a priest who was doing calligraphy.  He called out to Johnathan (who was riding on Jay's shoulders) that he should walk like a big boy (this kind of thing has happened ALL over Nanjing).  Our guide politely told the priest that Johnathan is unable to walk and was just adopted by us.  At this point the priest got super excited and ran over to us.  He asked Jay to put Johnathan down and then he picked him up.  He insisted that he have his picture taken with Johnathan and then with both boys (and then our whole family).  He ran over and got 2 apples that had been given to Buddha and gave them to the boys.  Yes... my kids have eaten divine apples.  They are both now destined for greatness :)

We continued up the mountain (which was much higher than the temple) and Jay and Ms. Tang took turns hauling Johnathan. I think I mentioned it before but he is so HEAVY! What a sack of potatoes! This has been the biggest shock to us. He liked the backpack carrier at first but it started to be too tight (his words to our guide) so we had to carry him everywhere until we were able to buy a stroller (not that a stroller would have helped on the mountain). We kept going up and up (Jack was so jazzed about actually climbing a mountain... he moved off the path that we were walking so he was in the "wilderness". Mr. Bossy Pants alternately kept yelling at him to be careful (he is such a worry-wort for a 4 year old!) and yelling at him that he was a bad boy for disobeying Mama and straying from the path. LOL!

When we got to the top we had a 360 view where we could see the entire city of Xuzhou. It was spectacular (though I was sweaty and out of breath at this point so all I could think about was water). Ms. Tang was super proud of us for making it to the top.

After leaving the mountain we went to a traditional Xuzhou restaurant.  We learned that Xuzhou people are considered northern people and they, like Ben's folk, eat wheat based foods rather than rice based foods.  So, obviously, I could not partake in most.  But, Jay said the breads (which are like flat breads that they stuff and fold like burritos) were out of this world.

We took a walk around the giant lake for a few minutes to digest our lunch.  Johnathan clearly knew that area (it is very near the orphanage and Ms. Tang said that the nannies take the kids on walks around the lake) and it was very peaceful and beautiful.

After our walk we visited a market so that Jack could see how the local people shop for food.  Ms. Tang wanted him to see a vendor making crispy noodles (the thing he loved most during our traditional Xuzhou lunch).  She bought him a whole bunch of noodles, flatbread "pancakes", and sugarcane... he was so happy and I do believe that Ms. Tang is now his very best friend in the whole wide world.  He keeps asking when we can come back and visit Xuzhou again :)

It was a very long and exhausting day (I think we nearly killed our guide!) but such wonderful memories were made by all of us.  We are so blessed to have spent the day with such amazing people!