Let me start by saying that we have seen so much during our stay in Guiyang, China.  So much so that I am going to have to continue blogging about our China trip even when we arrive home.  We have had the opportunity to experience firsthand what our daughter/sister's life would be like had she not been adopted.  From an American's side of things, I would say it would be a sad way of life.  Thankfully, the people here do not seem sad.  Instead they seem very adjusted to their lifestyle and know no different.  Therefore, they are content.  With that little tidbit said, let me share with you about our journeys yesterday.  First, we visited Qianling Park aka "The Monkey Park."  The drive there was half of the journey as it was a very rough drive on a dirt road.  The streets in the city are fine.  Once you leave the city, you enter into a different world of travel and it is an experience in and of itself.  I mentioned to Ryan that the driving here reminds me of a game of Chicken.....drivers just go and go and go, it doesn't matter what is in front of you or beside you or if there is a bigger automobile coming towards you, one just drives until they chicken out.  At that point, the "chicken" driver immediately slams on breaks and applies his horn.  So, back to the monkey park, we arrived, ventured in and observed some traditional gaming and dancing taking place.  One particularly interesting game consisted of this man, a spintop - can sort of thing and a whip.  The spinner thing would spin and then the guy would hit it with the whip.....if he succeeded, the spinner continued to spin, if not, the spinner stopped.  It was quite entertaining and loud.....we stood at a good distance :)  Then we boarded the bus and drove further into the park.  Eventually we slowed and just outside our bus there were monkeys EVERYWHERE.  Little ones, big ones, baby ones, some were swinging in trees while others were busy scoping out the area for food.  No kidding, we watched as one man gave a monkey a wrapped piece of bread.  The monkey took the bread, bit the plastic wrap off bit by bit while spitting it out of his mouth and then he took the bread and consumed it.  Amazing.  Ryan says the zoo will be boring to our children after this experience.  It was very cool.  

Following a little break, our family boarded our bus for yet another out-of-city journey.  Before we traveled to Guiyang, I did some research on things to do in this area. Guizhou Province as a whole is very mountainous and there are a lot of caves. Guiyang is not known for tourism and therefore, there is little to do.  Knowing my gang the way I do, I sought out some tours that are not usually arranged unless requested.  We decided to tour an area called Tiahne Scenic Pool Area. There are caves and waterfalls and the countryside is beautiful. Again, with our afternoon tour, the drive there was half the journey.  I took a picture of what we drove through - literally a construction site, no road, just mud - and we bumped and bumped and bumped.  Upon arrival, our guide stated that we must first board this battery car to take us down to the dock to board our boat to ride into the cave.  Now, I must say that I knew little about the battery car and its power until yesterday.  I simply thought we were going to take a peaceful golf cart style ride to our boat loading area.  Oh no, not the case.  Instead, my boys and MK jumped on the very last seat, with me sitting next to them and Ryan with Maddox in the seat in front of us.  In a matter of seconds, I realized that my peaceful golf cart ride was not going to be the case.  We blasted off, the boys and MK laughing and saying how much they loved the car - it was like a roller coaster ride for them!  Ryan was just taking it all in stride, hanging out.  Me, I was praying.  It was so fast, we went left, we shifted right and then  the brakes were applied and once we returned to our upright position, we were allowed to get off.....it was crazy.  We then got into our boat, road through the cave.  It was beautiful.  After our tour by boat, we got out and walked through different sections of the cave as well.  The afternoon was remarkable.  So glad that we took this opportunity to see more of China's landscape.