Helen took us to a giant meal and to our hotel. Actually, she took us to the wrong
hotel at first. We unloaded all the bags and moved into the lobby before she realized
that we weren't staying at the hotel that all Western travelers stay at in Yi Chang.
So we loaded up the minivan again and went on to the right place.
After we got that sorted out, we wandered around a little, going to the local
post office first. We found an interesting people bridge crossing the major street
near us. It was a kind of suspension people bridge. When big trucks went by, the
whole thing wiggled.
The next day, we went to the Chinese sturgeon museum a little outside of Yi Chang.
You have to cross the little river there on a boat, because they're working on
expanding the bridge by another lane or two. Here's the boat:
There was a big park across the street from our hotel. It had at least two lakes
where you could rent paddle boats, horse riding, various kiddie rides like carousels,
snack food, plus an area you paid a little to get into that was basically a playground.
Cielo really enjoyed herself here. Some of the older kids wanted to play with her
more than anything, and were extremely helpful (or extremely interventionist at least).
You can see some of the other parents sitting and watching.
The weirdest thing in this playground, which Cielo did not do, was the pair of ziplines
(where kids hold on to a couple of handles attached to a down-sloping wire and go
shooting 100 feet to the end, where they drop into a net).
