Tourists

Last weekend we had a guest. Did you hear that? A guest! In Shenyang! Amazing!!

She is an English teacher from a nearby city who wanted to come down for the weekend and go to church with us. And for the special occasion, we decided to make a trip to Shenyang's touristy destinations (well, destination). We've lived here for almost a year now, and I have yet to make it over there.

Hey, I have good reasons. When we got here, I was pregnant-out-to-there. Then I had a newborn, and then it was winter. And let me remind you, those are all mighty fine reasons to stay home. But it's spring, the baby's bigger, and most importantly, we had a guest(!!).

So we went to Beiling Park, a.k.a. the Imperial Tombs from like 1600 or something. Once upon a time a long time ago, Shenyang was the capital of China. The emperor lived here, and this is his tomb. There's a palace in town, too, but we didn't want to do everything Shenyang has to offer all in one weekend. We'll spread it out a bit. Maybe next year we'll visit the palace.

The tombs are in the middle of a large park. There are trees and lakes, and it's actually quite beautiful-- for Shenyang. It's springtime and pretty sunny these days, but some of us were stupid and only wore light jackets. I think we were all freezing, but some of us complained more vocally than others. (Hey, it was cold, alright?!)

And now some pictures of our touristy adventure.

Here's the actual tomb, to the left. It's round to represent a pregnant belly and therefore rebirth. There's an elm tree growing out the top (not pictured), with tree of life imagery. Candace would make an excellent tour guide.

I like that picture, with the ancient buildings in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background.

Next we have some incense holders. Kevin told us about these.

One building had some Buddhist images, with Buddhas and Boddhisatvas. Each one was labeled with its name in Chinese and English.

This one must be a fairly new incarnation.

Penny and Candace inspected the dragon gargoyle water spout thingie.

Look, Penny! A horse! It's white!

I also have excellent tour guide skills. :O)