Thank you, Sun Yat-Sen

Many adventures happen downtown after kung fu. Remember the giant Brigham Young-esque statue? Well we explored his entire park after kung fu and it was a surprising treat!

We were met first by some finely manicured hedges that just reminded me of Alice and Wonderland ;)


We started up some stairs to a pagoda (after a kung fu pose...)

..and found a pond with a bajillion koi. I bought some fish food for 3 RMB and quickly became the fish's favorite tourist at the park :)


And the little Chinese lady behind me started blowing bubbles. It was perfect :)




Pagoda!


Silhouetted kung fu picture behind a waterfall. This might be a little too legit, folks!


All of this is as artificial as Disneyland but it doesn't make it any less fun to explore ;)

We headed back down the stairs to go catch the bus and were met by a group of tourists that we have come to refer to as "the red hat group." I'll let you figure out why ;) We figure they must be a group of tourists from somewhere that doesn't get many foreigners because they are always REALLY excited to see us. And this memorial must be a stop on their tour of Zhongshan because there are ALWAYS some of them here. And they are ALWAYS happy to see us :) Come to the Sun Yat-Sen memorial and see white people, what could be better?

This time it was especially funny because one of them just handed me a large bouquet of flowers to pose with. Hehe :) We had to hide from the rest of the groups to make our bus on time. It's hilarious to watch the genuine surprise and excitement when Chinese people see us, though, it's really a neat experience to be in another country and have the immediate friendship with someone, even if it's only for 5 minutes and a picture!

It's wonderful to have so many exciting places to visit so close to home! Our weekends are such a relaxing relief. I have grown to love Zhongshan so much for all it has to offer!