Monday, May 5, 2008

Botanical Gardens

Saturday we decided that we would take our friend Siew and her two sons to see the Botanical Gardens here in Xiamen. They've only been living here for the past two years. We packed up some food for a picnic and then headed out. We went there last year in the fall, and wanted to go back during the spring to see if there would be more flowers in bloom. We weren't disappointed.

Our fearless tour guide, Mark wearing Danial's hat.


Well, apparently when you have two growing boys, it doesn't take long before they're hungry. I think it was a quick 30 minutes before they were looking for a snack. We sat down and had chicken wings before we carried on again. About 20 minutes they wanted lunch. Mark told them they had to walk another 4 kilometers before getting anymore food. They weren't impressed.

As we meandered through the park ( it's quite large and we did less than 1/3 of it) , we saw a peacock. We continued walking some more and found a small playground and another peacock (or the same, they all look alike). They occupied the boys for awhile before we heard the "I'm hungry when are we going to eat?" Sound familiar, dad?


We found a nice open area, and had a very nice picnic. After lunch Mark and Ben played some badminton, while Daniel was behind the tree pouting because his mother wouldn't allow him to put a dirty straw in his mouth. It's tough being 4!

About 1/2 hour later Mark and Ben finished playing, as Mark ran out of energy. The two boys, er I mean, Mark and Ben toured some more of the park, while Daniel continued pouting. He came around when Siew threatened him, that she would leave him in the middle of the market where he would find a new mom. After a fun filled day, Daniel fell quickly asleep in the taxi.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Cinco de Mayo, Wichmanns! Any chance of scoring a Corona in Xiamen? I will drink an extra one for you.

The botanical garden looks beautiful. I saw some of the same flowers in Hawaii -- esp. lots of hibiscus (my favorite). I had no idea they also grew in China. Thanks for sharing your pix!

miss you,
love, lidia

Tina said...

Ah, Lidia

When you come to visit next spring, you too will see your favorite flower. I promise we will take you to the Botanical Gardens.

We miss you too!

Aiglee said...

Nice! I like it :)

Do you know the white flower you go there? A nimphea... my dad is a botanical biologist so I have a pink hybrid of those with my name ;)