Day 19 - 21

Day 19 - 21 : Our 3 day vacation!

We just got back from a three day trip to Fuxian Lake. It was about a 3 hour mini bus ride.

 There were about 25 of us total including kids. It was really awesome to get to know some of 

Linds and Josh's (our new) friends better. 

We were so thankful to be able to come along. It was such a blessing to get a trip

 and a change from the norm. We got to go for free and helped out with the kids. 

Here are some pictures of our trip. Of course pictures can't capture it all. 

All our luggage. You can see Linds, Lily, Olivet, and Me. 

On the way there we went through some really neat villages outside of the city.

Lily being a wonderful big sister and holding Olivet

Through the Mountains we go. 

Farms and Gardens

Half Tractor- Half Truck

Another picture of the half tractor- half truck and some little kids coming back from school

Look through the window and you can see a huge overloaded truck
supported by beams in the middle of the road.  I don't know if it lost it's tire
or if it just got thrown off balance. All the guys but one were outside trying to figure
it out what to do with the truck while the one guys was sitting in the driver seat
with a huge smile on his face. haha. no idea why.

Pony and it's cart

Entrance of an underground tunnel near our hotel.
The tunnel went under the street to the pretty park across from our hotel.

All of us getting out of our van.

Lily and Cade got to sleep in our room! Looking out our window
at the lake and beach across the road. 

Beautiful View!

Phil and Cade in our room.

Taking a walk in the rain. 

Our hotel from across the street in the park. 

Other half of our room!

The pool we never got to swim in. 

Sculpture 

Two of the four pools the hotel had. 

Linds, Josh, Olivet, Viv and Dassah's room beside ours.

Our Bathroom. 

Our walk in the rain. 

Our hotel from the beach.

The kids playing in the rain on the play ground. 

Every room had a lake view but all the hallways had views of the mountain and town. 

All 26 of us all piled out of the giant golf cart and headed to dinner. 

Fancy dinner 

Viv doing a walk. Haha. You can see her belly sticking out.  

Personality is written all over this face!
Who will this girl grow up to become?

Two cute faces in this picture. 

Olivet!!! 

All of us out for an early dinner! We had three tables full of people.
This was just the girls table. 

Phil loved the english translation!
Firefighting Eouipment Cantmoveawny?

Fire Exting Uisher Box?
We see bad english translations all the time.
I think it would be better had they not
tried to translate it. 

The view again but you can see the mountains across the lake better. 

The side view of the town from our window. 

I think firefighting instructions?

Our breakfast room!! It was a lot larger than this but
 I thought the dragon was cool. 

Best Breakfast I've had in a month by far!
Bacon, watermelon, and lots of bowls of Coco Crisp. 

The last night we all walked down the street to a local asian restaurant.
There me in the never-ending rain! 

Phil and Cade posing for their picture.
How cool of them!

How awesome is this!?! Most local small restaurants have packaged dishes.
They send off their dirty ones, pay a little, and receive clean one's back.
 It's awesome for both of us. They don't have to do dirty dishes
 (note: no dishwashers here) and we know that we have all clean dishes. 

Our dinner of MOSTLY all spicy foods. 

Note: that my plate doesn't have much variety on it. I DON"T do spicy! 

The side of our restaurant.

Corn beside our hotel.

Again right beside our hotel. 

On the ride home. Haven't seen any rice fields yet..
We thought we'd see more of those than regular farms and gardens. 

This picture doesn't even capture the 3 hour van/mini bus
ride on the rough, rocky, bumpy, muddy roads we took. 

On the other side of Kali and Dassah you can see an ally way. 

Thats the bank I want all my money in!
Agricultural Back of ....

People we passed by or (almost ran over). It was such a narrow street to take.
Their just sitting in front of the store. 

Bricks anyone?

Breaks my heart! I see so many dogs and cats tied up to trees and poles
without water or food or anything. I pray for each one I see.
I see how some of these people are treated and the conditions they live
and know that if they aren't taken care of I doubt many animals
are either. There is so much help I wish I could do.
However, it is so hard to help in this culture.
 The government and culture both don't encourage it. 

Beautiful views as we passed through the Mountains. 

More mountains. 

Road block by cops. What is so different and awesome is just how friendly the police are.
They have no power to do anything and are just ordinary people.
Unlike when I was in Africa, there is and was no fear when we stopped.
It was fun to see them smiling and waving at all the children and us, foreigners. 

You can't tell in this picture but it looked as if
we made their whole day getting to see and meet us.

Local town road side market and cool motorbike/cart. 

This picture doesn't even capture the awe I had while looking at this.
Its really really far. The tunnel at the end is part of a subway system they have
been building throughout the entire giant city we live in. 

Funny tiny car thing. 

Another dog. :/ Makes me miss Kujo. 

Wires everywhere.. that cannot be safe! 

More and more wires? 

Home Again! It was a fun trip but nice to get back settled in. It was so neat to see some much of the countryside. I wish I got to see more. I'm looking forward to more trips.