Kites on the Yangtze

On the way to the tower the other day, Fontana had the bus driver stop at a place along the Yangtze where the kids could fly kites. The Yangtze flows right though town and there a several bridges that we cross each time we head out to different events. We walked down to a sort of boardwalk and bought some kites from a kite seller (there were several kites sellers with a sorts of kites hung out on bamboo poles all along the boardwalk). Evan bought a big black bat kite with large flaming red eyes and Gracie got a fairy kite made of bamboo and silk (it'll never survive the trip to Beijing, let alone the trip home). Unfortunately there wasn't much wind, however a few local young folks were already out running around trying to get their kites up, but with little luck. The real veteran kite flyers, the old men in rumpled Mao jackets and really cool silk kites were hunched down by the edge of the boardwalk drinking tea from see-though thermoses. Evan ran round and round trying to get his kite up and as long as he kept going it would fly, but whenever he stopped it would gradually drift down. Gracie and I worked at her kite, which I thought was the only one light enough to get up, but since she insisted on riding on my shoulders while I tried to run, juggle her, and fly her kite all at the same time, we didn't have much luck either. It was a lot of fun though and pretty cool to have flown kites over the Yangtze river. We're going to try some more kite flying at the park beside the Temple of Heaven - but I think it's going to make the kids a little jaded about kite flying back home. I mean once you've flown your kite over the Yangtze and the emperors private prayer grounds, Stewart park back in Perth is going to seem pretty tame.