Thursday April 11th

We woke up at 6:30 am this morning with no alarm and went down to a buffet breakfast in the hotel.  As typical of Asian restaurants there were a lot of heavy meals for breakfast but we could also still order omelets.  We went to a nice mall called U-town (pic below).  There are trendy and upscale stores there and several restaurants.  We also went to China Mobile to buy a sim card and to Walmart to get bottled water and snacks.

Lunch was a taxi ride 10 min away to Annie's for pizza/pasta.  It was so delicicious.  However, it is very scary taking taxies and generally just crossing the street.  People don't follow the rules and don't yield to pedistrians.   It was also hard finding cabs.   Later we went to the hotel pool.  All three of us had to wear one of those beanie swim caps on our heads - wish we took a pictures!  Water was a little cold but there were two jacuzzi's to alternate jumping into to warm up.  After swimming Michael and Maddie took a nap. 
We left at 6:30pm to go to an acrobat show that got rave reviews on tripadvisor.  Poor Maddie slept through the whole thing (picture below).  But it was awesome.  It started out predictably with the stunt where a lady stacks chairs on top of each other and does one arm handstands.  Two other great acts involved motobikes driving through a circular cage around in loops and upside down.  More and more guys were added til there were 6 people on motorbikes at once swirling around in there.  Another cool trick was done by ladies balancing on bikes.  At one point there were 12 people riding 1 bike!

Afterwards we went back to the shopping mall and ordered some small vegetarian plates at a Vietnamese restaurant.  It is funny sometimes ordering in another language.  Michael asked for a bottle of water and they gave him boiled water.  And note to self- I hate the Diet Coke here.  It takes like Coke Light or Coke Zero-so why do I keep ordering it.
Tomorrow we meet up with our guide at midday in the lobby along with several other families.  It's nice that we have this time to see our daugther's coutry and Chinese culture and also relax/get over jet lag. .It's kind of like the instructions from the flight attendant:  You take care of your mask first so you can then take care of the little one's.
Well I think Michael and Maddie went off to sleep again so I should too before this keyboard becomes my pillow : )
Update a few hours later:  I think I did too much walking and carrying of Maddie yesterday.  My lower calf (which I saw doc for last week due to some sort of strain) is starting to bother me again.  So I just took some aleve and hope it will feel better by morning.