China Day Twelve -- Karaoke is Totally Awesome

The Yellow Crane Tower

Today was a free day for us. We didn't have anything scheduled to do for our adoption, so we could look around Wuhan and see the sights. First we spent a very leisurely morning at the hotel room. I had to get our laundry ready to send out yet again. Our agency liaison set up a laundry service for us, and they were going to come to our hotel room to collect the laundry later in the afternoon. I wanted to have everything ready to go before we left to sightsee, so the family hung out while I sorted through our ever growing pile of laundry.

 Once that task was completed we got a couple of taxis and headed to see the Yellow Crane Tower. It is one of the significant sights in Wuhan, so we knew we needed to see it while we were here. The taxis dropped us off at the bottom of a hill and pointed up the hill to say that we would find the tower at the top of it. I was surprised that we didn't get dropped off closer to the tower, and there really weren't any signs indicating that we were close to some significant cultural site, But we headed off. We thought we could find the tower and avoid the long set of stairs, so we headed off in another direction, hoping to find it without a huge climb. This took us through a local neighborhood. It was nice to see this part of Wuhan. So much of Wuhan on the main streets has been converted to higher end retailers now. In the back alleys, however, you can catch a glimpse of what Wuhan is like behind the scenes.

We walked and walked until finding ourselves right back where we began. We were going to have to walk those stairs if we wanted to find the tower. So we did. When we found the tower we found that we needed to pay a fee to enter, just like we had to do for all of the tourist sites we have seen in China. This site, however, was really pricey compared to the other places in China we have visited. We ended up having to pay 480 RMB for our tickets. I wish that I can say that it was worth the extra money, but it wasn't nearly as spectacular as many of the sites we saw in Beijing for far less money. But we felt like we needed to see this so that we had the experience of seeing a site that was significant in Minsy's home city.

This place is not handicap accessible

A beautiful vase inside the tower

The tiled wall inside the tower

The Yellow Crane Tower is actually a complex of buildings like we found at many sites in Beijing. The tower itself is very tall (I think it was seven stories, but I lost count after the second one). We decided that since we had traveled halfway around the world to see the tower, we needed to climb it. Oh, how I am learning to hate stairs. We traveled up and up and up. I wanted to stop after the second story and call it good, but the rest of the family over-rode me and we kept climbing. Once we got to the top we had a pretty nice view of Wuhan, although it was another cloudy day, so we weren't able to see much. We did take some nice pictures so that Minsy could have them as she grows up. We probably should have taken some time to enjoy ourselves after our trek to the top, but I had to battle my fear of seeing my family at such great heights. I kept freaking out a bit and telling everyone to back away from the ledge. They were not in any danger, but I'm a major scaredy cat about heights, especially when it comes to my children. My nightmare is having them lean over for a better look at something and flipping over the edge. So I'm a nervous wreck when we travel up to high places as a family.

Views from the top
(The Yangtze River in in the top picture)

JoJo taking in the view from the top of the tower
Notice Mama's death grip on him while he watches --
I was terrified that someone was going to tumble over the edge.

After descending the tower we went over to a spot with a giant bell. We paid a little bit of money and got the opportunity to ring the bell. It was fun for the kids and probably their favorite part of the visit. I don't know if it was worth the 480 RMB we paid for the experience, but it was nice to be able to talk about this place with Minsy later if she is curious.

Getting ready to ring the big bell at the tower

Giving some offerings at the bell

Laney looking at an actual yellow crane while sitting
at the Yellow Crane tower

We left the tower and wandered around the neighborhood nearby before we got cabs and headed back to the hotel. It was interesting to see all of the shops in the area. All of the shops are open to the elements. They are in buildings, but they have openings that are like garage doors, so they don't have doors that they can open and close for customers during crazy weather. In the winter people still shop, but they just have to remain bundled up because they will not be entering any sort of heated facility. This is not just true of the small dilapidated shops. This is true for the higher end shops that are found in many of the outdoor malls that are found throughout Wuhan. I'm starting to understand why all of the kids clothes I have looked at in Wuhan have been heavily quilted. The kids will need that if they always find themselves in environments where there is no heat, whether inside or outside.

Savannah got to play a beautiful
(but out of tune) piano at a local
music store

We eventually returned to the hotel and waited until our laundry was picked up. Then we decided to walk to the Carrefour that is nearby. I had heard that I could find some western food items there, and I really was craving some American treats to snack on. We had to cross two busy roads to get to the store, and it is just insane. I am more worried about crossing streets here than I was in Beijing. I'm glad we went to Beijing first, though, because it made it easier for me to get the nerve to cross the street here. If I hadn't mastered Beijing, there is no way I'd have the courage to tackle Wuhan traffic. Herman took the lead as we crossed traffic. He is used to doing this because of his time in Brazil, so he has a confidence that I don't have. He calmly explained to me that it is just like Frogger -- no problem. Really? I was a horrible Frogger player. That does not calm me at all. But we made it intact. As crazy as the traffic is, the drivers really do look out for the pedestrians -- not that we can let our
guard down ever.

The Carrefour was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was much like any other department/grocery store that we have found in China. Except the prices were a bit more. The crazy thing about this store was that they had these smooth escalators that traveled up and down between floors so that custormers could take their carts up and down. The angle on this escalator was insane. I don't think a store in the US could get away with this degree of an angle because I felt like I was constantly in danger of flying down the thing with my stroller. I did not feel steady on my feet at all. But by leaning a bit back and making sure the brakes on the stroller were on we were able to maneuver okay.

The horrible escalator-like thing headed from Carrefour

Some familiar foods

Outside the Carrefour

Minsy wanted to hold all the groceries

We then went to the big KTV place that was right next to the Carrefour. KTV places specialize in karaoke in China. It is extremely popular here, and we wanted to take some time when we were in China to see what it was like here. It is not like anything I have ever seen in the US. This KTV was run by the hotel there, and we went to the front desk and purchased an hour worth of time. They then took us down several halls that had door after door in them. Each door opened to a room where a karaoke station had been set up. We were led to the VIP room for our karaoke session. This room had a big screen television and huge speakers on the wall at the front of the room. Then there was a really nice wrap around couch where we could sit. At the end of the couch was a touch screen computer where we could choose our music. After getting some help so that the instructions and songs were all in English instead of Chinese, we got started.

So fun!

Minsy loved dancing with us

Even Mama joined in!

It was a blast! We absolutely loved it. I wondered if the mikes in the studio had some sort of autotune on them because I sounded awesome, and I always hate the way I sound when I sing karaoke. The sound was blaring loud. It almost seemed like we were at a rock concert. We asked them to turn it down a bit because some of the kids didn't like it quite so loud. Even at the lower volume it sounded amazing. Every one of us sang our heart out for the entire hour. When we weren't singing, we were dancing. All of us had so much fun. In the middle of our session the hotel brought us some popcorn and fruit cut in fancy shapes. The three workers who brought the food smiled and laughed at us as we had our fun. The highlight of the night was the Blau Family rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. We totally kicked tail on it. We are definitely doing this again before we leave China. It was a great family recreation. All ages had so much fun.

JoJo and Laney manning the computer to pick our songs

The beautiful fruit plate the hotel brought us while
we were singing.  Yum!

Katie and Laney singing away!

Herman with a karaoke employee

We left our karaoke session and headed to the Carrefour complex again so that we could eat some supper. We decided to go American with this and eat at the KFC. Kentucky Fried Chickens are super popular in the parts of China we have seen. I was curious to see if they were similar to US KFC restaurants. They were. The chicken was pretty good. Lots of the patrons watched us eat tonight. I think we managed to do it without embarrassing ourselves too much.

On our trip back to the hotel we again had to cross the two roads. Now we were doing it in the dark and it seemed as if the traffic had increased a bunch. It was a lot more scary. We headed across the first street, and halfway across the street Hyrum dropped several yuans from his pocket. The normal reaction when something like that happens is to reach down to grab the money, but we pushed him along, and we managed to get across the street without any problems. Those yuans are just going to have to go to some lucky street crosser another day. There is no way that we are going back to get them.

So it was another fun day in China for our family. Tomorrow we are heading to see the orphanage and the place where Minsy was abandoned. That should be neat.