Xuan Wu Lake Park

Today we ventured out with our guide and another family who adopted a 4 year old boy and took a taxi to Xuan Wu Lake Park here in Nanjing. It was a beautiful very large park - so large that to run around the full loop is 10 Kilometers (6.2 Miles). There is a huge lake in the middle so it is a nice peaceful cool walk. The lake has a mountain on one end and is next to the City which is very good Feng Shui. Jia Lu was pretty tired so she slept in the baby carrier as Pam walked through the park with us. Our first stop before we got into the park was in a small grass area next to the lake we saw some people spinning a yo-yo like large top on a 4' or so string between two sticks (We did not get the name of it.) It was very cool because at one point the master teacher got out of his chair and did it and when it's done right the friction between the string and the top makes a steady loud whirring sound. The really good practitioners can move the top all around their body and it becomes a form of exercise. After watching this mesmerizing display we moved on to an exercise park for kids and adults. All of us adults and kids especially liked the self-propelled leg swinging equipment. It was fun to swing your legs like you were walking or to swing them both together forward and backward. These parks are intended to get everyone some exercise.

After this we entered the park. It is a nice walking loop by the lake. On the way as we rounded the corner walking toward a huge dragon formed from large bushes Kyle noticed a huge blow up cylinder on the lake that it looked like you could walk on the lake in. Kyle indicated some interest in it and our guide said he could do it if he wanted. She proceeded to lead us down to the water and in the end I was able to go in it with Kyle. It was very fun but hard work to keep standing. I've always wanted to do this - but never thought I'd be doing it on a lake in China ! Before this we had fun taking pictures of the dual dragon formed out of bushes - it was huge ! While there we were approached by a group of police officers there in the park for some sort of gathering - some were in suits and some were in police uniforms. They approached our group and asked our guide where we were from she told us they made comments how Kyle was in shirt sleeves - they expected that he should have had a coat on even though it was 50 - 60 degrees F. After a leisurely stroll we headed out of the park and back to our hotel.