Adventures in China: Day 15

Day 15: Find a Penny, Pick Her Up …

9am we met in the lobby with the group that wanted to go see Jiangxin Island. The previous day, some of the dancers had met a Chinese woman, named Penny. She spoke very good English! She agreed to be our tour guide for the day.

First up was a taxi ride to the ferry port. Already the view of the island is stunning.

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Penny insisted on group pictures at every turn. Here is the whole group for the day

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We board the ferry. More group pics.

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We get closer to the island. It wasn’t a long ride. Like 5 minutes haha.

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(See the tree growing out the top?)

The view of the city we left behind was pretty, too.

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Another group pic at the welcome sign. Just girls this time.

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Neat doors (I’m collecting pictures of them to make a montage when I get home).

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Pretty pagodas …

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Another girl pic

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One of us that’s just too cute to leave out.

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And one of us in a red phone booth (random!) to go along with our red phone booth pic in London.

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Beautiful pathways

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A small lake and bridge …

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Stone structures …

 

Silliness …

 

Paintings on walls …

 

A lily pond

 

Zigzag bridge (those seem to be in every park)

Another pagoda. This one was just an entryway type thing to along the path. There were two artists camped under there offering portrait services. If we hadn’t of been with a large group, I would’ve had them paint ours :)

We finally reached our destination. The thing we had been working towards this whole time. I mean, the place was beautiful and all, but nothing beats …

A roller coaster. On an Island. In China.

Here’s Becca, my roller coaster buddy, and me as we reach the top.

Here’s the view from us there.

And here’s the first big drop and loopdy-doop.

Yup, I took pics with my camera during the ride, but it was such a crazy ride that this was the only decent pic I managed to snap.

 

After we got off, there was this ridiculously cute group of Asian kids posing for pictures.

The moms were relentless. I think those kids stood there for like 20 minutes for pictures. Well, then I had an idea …

Come join me! The moms were instantly all over that business. But some of the kids were not happy. You can see it in the pic.

Do you see those moms pushing their kids towards me? So hilarious. One kid instantly burst into tears. I think it was my sunglasses. They don’t really wear those here (or at least that’s what I like to tell myself). So I took them off and then a few brave ones came over.

Then more …

Finally, they started to settle and pose …

And the girl next to me was so adorable. She just stood there, close to me, the whole time, smiling and holding her peace sign. The little boy wasn’t so sure about me, though.

Aren’t they adorbz?

 

We wandered back to the entrance a different way. More beauty.

 

Ok, so over here there are wedding dress models everywhere! There are always out in scenic spots with professional photographers. Their dresses are gorgeous! This one in particular, which is why I’m showing you. She’s especially gorgeous, too.

 

Whew! What a morning. Yup, we were back at the hotel for lunch. There was still plenty of time left for adventures. We ate lunch, and then Penny took Lena and me shopping! She lives here, and so she knew all the good spots for each type of item we were looking for.

She took us here for a hat.

I wanted one like hers.

She took a few more places – got Phil a shirt, got me some shoes (omg I’ve bought so many shoes here!!!). Then back to the hotel for the bus to the show. What a fun, full day! Penny definitely brought us good luck ;) I have her email, and plan to stay in touch with her.

Oh, and here’s the view from our hotel window. I forgot that in the post about our hotel room

 

By Jenny Cain

Spunky musician, artist, seamstress and horticulturalist. More about Jenny...