One month in Liuyang

Visited Liuyang which is my wife's hometown and introduced our baby to his grandparents. Otherwise, Liuyang would not have been the primary destination of my first trip to China. It's most famous for fireworks and is more wealthy than many other cities in Hunan Province.

It's kind of cool to see so many people in the parks exercising (we could use a little more of that in America). Also, it is developing and modernizing but it is certainly not ready for foreigners yet. I got a little sick of the stares. For one thing, there are signs on school walls stressing global excellence yet it seems silly that I could not even walk down the street without the ugly stares that I got. Anyways, it is a small town by Chinese standards. (about half a million people). There is a mix of newcomers from the countryside that may have attributed to the oddness. There is a nice new slick mall on the riverfront and an old-school farmer's market about 2 blocks away from it in which the vendors start setting up at 2am.

There were many contrasts between old and new here but Liuyang gets its vibrant culture a little from its economic prowess and a lot by its isolation. It takes a few tunnels to get through to it which is actually easier now than it used to be when it was by riverboat.

I did not get to see everything in my month there as the primary reason for my being there was to introduce our baby to my wife's parents. I felt Liuyang was all right, my wife's friends were cool anyways.