The Tower and the Museum

Our guide took us to see the Jiaxiu Tower and the Guizhou Provincial Museum today.  Both of them are located here in the city of Guiyang.

The provincial museum consisted of natural specimens, artifacts, minority cultural relics, and modern cultural relics from Guizhou province.  Guizhou is a large, somewhat empty, and little- traveled province.  There are a lot of minority groups who live here, including the Miao, Dong, and Bouyei people.  Judging from his physical features, our guide seems to think that Haven comes from the Miao minority group. 

Throughout the  museum, we were able to see representative examples of Miao clothing, ornaments, handicrafts, and implements.  The embroidery work on display was SO impressive.  Apparently, they are known for being master embroiderers.  They are also known for their colorful costumes, headdresses, and silver jewelry.

It was a really small museum, so it didn’t take us long to walk through it.  They had a wide variety of items for sale (for very reasonable prices).  Most items had been made by the Miao people.  I picked up several things for our China room back home.  I also bought some jewelry for myself, and some special souvenirs for family members and friends.

From there, we headed over to the Jiaxiu Tower in downtown Guiyang.  We have an incredible view of this tower from our hotel window.  It was great to finally get up close and explore the tower, as well as the area surrounding it.

It is a traditional Chinese-style structure that is located on the Nanming River, which runs right through Guiyang. It was built in 1597 during the Ming Dynasty.  It is connected to the banks on both sides of the river by the Fuyu Bridge.

It wasn’t very crowded at all.  We had a nice, leisurely tour of the area.  I have really grown to love Chinese architecture, so this was right up my alley.

Everywhere we go, we are still treated almost like celebrities.  We see so many pointed fingers and stares.  We have even had people ask us if they could take our photos on several occasions.  Yesterday, in that remote area of China, we were stared at constantly.  It was clear that they hadn’t seen people like us before.  With this hair of mine, I really stick out in a crowd over here.  At first, it was sort of uncomfortable.  But, we are getting used to it.  In fact, it is actually enjoyable at times.  For instance, today we noticed that a professional photographer was doing a photo shoot with a gorgeous young Chinese woman near the Jiaxiu Tower.  Our guide pointed it out to us.  As we walked by them, they noticed us and asked us to come over.  That gorgeous Chinese woman asked me if I would pose for a photo with her.  I had just been admiring her beauty, and here she was….asking me to take a photo with her.  She was very kind, and she stared at me – clearly in awe of how different we looked from one another.  I agreed to stand with her for a photograph.  Mom stood next to her photographer and snapped a few shots of us together as well.

Tomorrow afternoon, we pack up our bags and bid farewell to Haven’s home province.  We will be leaving here and flying down to Guangzhou where we will complete the last few steps of this adoption process.  Once we do, we will be able to come home!  Prayers for a safe, smooth flight tomorrow would be greatly appreciated.  I have no idea what Haven will think of air travel.  I guess we will soon find out : )