Last Day In Nanchang

Thursday was our last complete day in Nanchang. In the morning Mary
took us to the Tengwang Pavilion which was within walking distance of
our hotel. It was very cold and raining again which was a pity because
the gardens of the Pavilion were so pretty and on a nice day it would
have been nice to walk around. Instead, we went into the pavilion
which is 6 stories high. On the top floor there is a small theater and
we watched a performance of singing, dancing and music playing. It was
quite nice. One of the instruments consisted of many hanging stones
which when hit would produce notes. It was quite extraordinary
actually. Mary said that it was about 3000 years old and that even now
to reproduce the instrument, it would take several years to get the
thickness of the stones just right to produce the correct note. The
pavilion was built sometime in the 600's and has been destroyed 28
times through wars and natural disasters. The last rebuilding was
completed in 1989.

After the performance we toured the rest of the pavilion. On this
particular day, we gave Isabel one of our camera's so she was ready
when her fans came calling. She turned the tables on them and not
everyone was excited to have their picture taken. Most though were
good sports about it. :)

We would have loved to have gotten some pictures of the outside of the
pavilion but the weather just didn't cooperate. It was hard to even
keep an umbrella open let alone stand outside and take pictures.

We left around lunchtime so Mary took us to a new place which was
quite good. Although our usual restaurant is good, going to the same
place to eat so often gets a little tiring. Also, eating in
restaurants so often has lent itself to overeating. I usually like
something simple and small for lunch and meals here have been such a
production for us that I think I need to do some extra workouts once I
get back home! Guangzhou might have been the perfect place to bring
those running shoes. :)

Our afternoon was pretty low-key. Unfortunately, the weather strapped
us to our hotel room more often than we would have liked.