Henan Provincial Museum

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Again with the typing in the dark. I wonder if I can do this at home. I feel pretty calm. Jin is, as usual, attached to Allen's hip and they are out for a walk. Bao is sprawled out on the bed. Now he has an eye infection. We are so hopeful that it is isolated from the eye injury as it is in the same eye. Still, he was the first one in the play room both days, and they are notorious for pink eye germs. Luckily, we have eye drops and again will have to wait and see. Bao is deep in sleep after the traumatic cleaning and reapplying of the bandage at the hotel doctor's office that took place earlier today. Fortunately, the doctor has a really big fish in a fishtank and that is a big draw for Bao to return to her office. And again, I asked a parent nurse to take a look at it. Unfortunately, Bao is laying on the side with the eye injury. Everytime I say "Don't touch it", Bao touches it, saying "No touch it" literally while he is doing it. So sleep is the only break it gets.

We loved loved loved the museum. It was a wonderful combination of ancient artifacts and modern air conditioning, and we happily spent our entire morning there. This province, Henan, is considered the real China. Relics have been found here dating back 4,800 to 6,800 years ago, so give or take about 1,000 years. People lived here at the time of the neolithic period, and the oldest form of writing, which was on oracle bones, was unearthed here. All of this was fairly recently discovered. In 1921, a Swiss anthropologist led the first excavation in this area, and they found incredible amounts of ancient civilizations in the form of the oracle bones, pottery, miniatures of villages, weaponry, musical instruments and jade funerary costumes. The museum also describes how Henan Province is the beginning of the silk road in China. Allen and I were seriously impressed, although we knew that Jin came from a regal place, Bao and Jin much less so as they were passed out through half of it. They even had a (very) mini planetarium, which led to Bao repeatedly insisting "See moon, see moon" whenever we tried to leave the area.

I bought local pottery in the gift shop in the form of a mouse (for Bao) and a water buffalo (for Jin) which represents their signs on the Chinese horoscope. I kept thinking that Bao was a water buffalo but that is because I bought him some water buffalo things in Vietnam when we were there as we got him in the year of the water buffalo. In fact, we were in Vietnam and Bao's adoption was final on the day that Jin is estimated to have been born. We are a lucky, lucky family.

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Photos

Make Your Own Lane
On the Way to Museum

Why Do People Think
They Are Twins?

Oracle Bones
and Ancient Writings

In the Shadow
of the Buddha

Miniature of a Village
Actually Excavated and Reconstructed

Alex, Whom We Met in the
Museum and Who Went to FSU

The Whole Family
Looking at the Too Big Fish

Comments

[Emily]

Lucky Family!
I am so excited to read each new entry! What a wonderful family! With two boys, almost the same age, you have your work cut out for you, but I know you wouldn't have it any other way! They are both so wonderfully handsome!

[bao's la-la]

for the love of buddha
did bao run to all the buddhas? they are so cute together in their matching clothes. museum pics are awesome. guess they don't have the same rules about "no photography" in their museums like we do here, huh? like that would stop you (remember mary proctor?)