These pictures are also a wee bit old, but I need to post them before I forget why in the world I took a picture in the first place. This is the entrance to a park in Fuyang called Dongwu. It is a rather big park on the outskirts of town. It’s really quiet here. There aren’t as many taxis or cars honking their horns. In fact, there are so few that it is easy to forget that you are still in Fuyang. If you look closely, you can see a building in the distance. It doesn’t look that far away from this picture, but it’s on top of a rather large mountain/hill. Even after 8 months of walking all over Columbia, I had a difficult time walking up what seemed like the never ending stair case.

That was okay though. It gave me an excuse to stop and take pictures on our way up. The Fuchun River is hiding in the distant haze. When I took this picture, it had been hazy in Fuyang for days. I was beginning to think that I would never see blue skies or the sun again. I wish that we had climbed these stairs on a better day for the view would have been better than it was without so many clouds. I wish that because I don’t think I can make myself climb up those stairs again. I’m such a lazy butt.

A little bit further up and on the other side of the mountain is the grand ole city of Fuyang. If you look really closely you might actually be able to see it through the haze. Hehe. 🙂 I must note that it’s not always like this in Fuyang. We’ve actually had some nice days recently. The one thing that I have become aware of since I’ve been here is that I never notice the sun. I guess that has something to do with the blanket of grey that drapes itself over Fuyang and most of China. Pollution just plain sucks here. I’ll be eager to take a big breath of air when I get home.

Under construction. We climbed all the way up to this building to find nothing but a building. The view was nice, but whatever used to be inside the building was gone. The only thing it had to offer was dust bunnies. We sat up here and rested until it started to get dark. Right before we headed back down the lights for the building came on. It made it very beautiful. At night, even from where we live, we can sometimes see the lights shimmering on the mountain top.

What a place to live, huh? I’m sure some of the people living in those apartments get pretty nice views. Most of Fuyang is flat, but we are pretty much surrounded on all sides by mountains. I don’t know why, but it’s not until I actually get up on a mountain and look down that I realize that that they are there. Phil and I are thinking about buying a motor scooter – sorta like a moped. It would make exploring Fuyang a lot easier. Then I could drive up most of the hilly sections of Fuyang without losing my breath or my energy. But we have to make sure we have the money for that.

I still have to post the zoo pictures. I promise to get to them soon. I found out tonight that I don’t have school all week. That means I will have all sorts of time to fiddle with blogger. Until the, later.