The City That Never Sleeps

Margo is doing great! She is sleeping about 12 ½ hours and she sleeps throughout the night. We wish we were doing the same! It seems no matter what time of night we wake-up we hear cars and buses honking their horns as they whiz past below. Occasionally we hear dogs barking, people yelling to one another and fireworks and this is all from 16 floors up! Our guide told us many couples plan their weddings around China’s national holidays and as the Moon Festival is coming up there are many celebrations going on complete with fireworks! At least Margo is able to sleep through it all and she wakes up happy and rested! We are seeing more of Margo’s personality as she is becoming more trusting and relaxed. She appears to be very calm and content. She smiles often and laughs quickly. Today she was a very picky eater and most of the food that went in, came out. We did not notice that with our older two from China for quite some time. Hopefully she will eat more tomorrow, She still has not taken a single step. She wants us to carry her everywhere! Today we went to the Tengwang Pavilion. It was amazing. Originally built in 653 AD it has been torn down and reconstructed several times, the last was in 1929 during the Chinese Civil War. It is a very popular tourist site and extremely crowded with people. Margo attracts a lot of attention and multiple people came over and touched her arm or cheek. This made me a little nervous as we had been told she had a lot of stranger anxiety. There was only one time she became noticeably nervous and began to cry. Our guide told us that everyone comments on how lovely Margo is and what good skin she has. Her skin is very white and he told us the women want to have pale skin as that is what is considered attractive. That is why they carry umbrellas on sunny days. I have even seen a skin whitening cream in many of the local markets. It is funny to note the cultural differences. The Chinese women value pale white skin and so many women in America will go to tanning salons and use tanning creams to have a nice golden color!

After Margo’s nap we took a taxi to Pizza Hut. I was not sure what to expect but the pizza was very good. The restaurant was very crowded and many children through out the place were playing chase. They would dart in front of waitresses carrying trays of food, people being seated and people exiting and no one seemed to raise an eye. It seemed strange as we have often noted the parents being very strict with their children. Margo however loved watching all of the commotion. The children made her laugh! We took a hair-raising taxi ride back to our room where we are ready to pass out! Tomorrow we are going to visit a popular park and visit a porcelain factory which is what the Jiangxi province is known for.