the eggrolls join a tour group

When traveling in our area of the country, there is a certain waterfall that is not-to-be-missed. We'd heard great things about it, and we knew our friend who came to visit us would totally want to see it. It would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Let me be clear: I'm not equating where we live with Paris.

I will publicly admit that initially, I was a bit grouchy about going to the waterfall. It was going to be a full day of travel - full, as in the bus picks you up at 6am and you return home at 8pm.

Josh had graciously suggested leaving the little ones home with him and me having a special day with my big girls and my friend. He's so thoughtful like that, and quick to realize that sometimes our big girls need special time with us too.

Since we'd never been there before and Josh wasn't going with us, he felt strongly that we should travel with a tour group. I was less than jazzed about this idea, since the idea of "tour group" conjures up images like these:

But Josh's perspective about time with my girls and his concern for my well-being made my mood a little less sour.

I woke the girls up just a few minutes before 6am and we made it to the pick up point just in time. We all munched on Carrot-Raisin muffins for breakfast during the hour drive to our first stop.

We weren't stopping at the waterfall yet. Oh no, no, no. Traveling with a tour group means you stop at places where you're encouraged to buy things you don't want or need in exchange for getting a discounted ticket for being with a group.

Our first stop was a ethnic minority "village" - really just an area of the woods made to look and run like a village. It was raining hard, we had to pay to get in, the entire "village" was outside, and my bad mood was returning.

I wasn't interested in looking at prehistoric cutting tools or earthen pots.

Near the end of the "village" tour, there was ethnic singing and dancing. Now that's something that I can get behind! There were several young children working there, and they encouraged my girls to get up on stage and dance with them. Samantha and Emma both were super-shy, but Emma mustered up enough courage to get up there with them.

Watching my girls enjoy the show was really fun. We were all amazed at the man who was breathing fire. Oh my.

The grandmothers of the village had beautiful hand-woven hats and clothes that are unique to their culture. They said it takes about 3 weeks to make one hat.
Emma can make a friend anywhere. I wonder if these children who worked at the village were surprised to see as many people taking pictures of the white people as there were taking pictures of them...
We got back on the bus and headed to our next destination: a knife factory. It was still raining pretty hard, so the incredible views of the countryside were foggy. I opted to stay on the bus instead of dragging my girls to the knife factory for the sales-talk and was prepared to die on that hill if I needed to. I was glad that the tour guide didn't give me any hassle for that.

No one in our tour group bought anything at the knife factory, and our tour guide awkwardly brought it up on the way to the next factory. When you buy products at these places, she told us, I get a percentage of the sales. Please be willing to buy more at the next place; it will help me.

It was very awkward. If there were ever a time for {crickets} on an Asianese tour bus, that was the time.

The next stop was a candy factory and sure enough, the kind travelers on bus 4203 bought lots of candy. My friend herself bought 20 bags. Apparently, this candy is famous nationwide. Since my friend was coming here where it originates from, she had received many requests to buy bags for other people.

Finally, after a cheap stop for lunch, we arrived at the first of three tourist spots. The time? 12:45.

This first waterfall we went to is not the big, famous waterfall. It's just a small (by comparison) waterfall on the route to the big one. It was massive and beautiful. If I only saw that waterfall, it would have been worth it.
Why a multitude of ducks chose to make their home on the turbulent waters beneath this waterfall is a mystery to me...
Tourist stop #2 was a lovely park filled with "national treasures" - rock formations and ponds that have been in existence for "millions of years".

I'm such a sucker for giant bamboo. I always take pictures of it.
There was a part of the park that had stepping stones for every day of the year. Each rock had a placard with the date and month on it. Single-file is the name of the game walking through this part...but it's made very difficult because people stop so often to find their birthdate. I found myself constantly praying that my children would not fall in the water.

Not because they'd drown.

Because I wasn't sure if I'd be willing to clean them off if they fell in.

I was so glad Abby wasn't with me. Can you imagine 365 steps like this? With Abby...?
There were some tight squeezes through rocks!
By the time we reached the end of that park, we were exhausted. We walked so much through the parks, and just barely made the tour bus before it went to our final attraction. The tour guide even called me on my cell phone and was irritated that we weren't at the bus yet.

She was definitely an interesting tour guide.

My girls were wiped out.
Then Emma noticed I was taking their picture. Maybe she wasn't as wiped out as I thought!
Ok! We made it to the big waterfall! I thought it would never happen, and if it did, I wasn't sure if it would be worth it.

You'll notice that Emma now was TWO teeth missing on bottom...
The grounds before the waterfall were some of the most beautiful I've seen in this country. There were lovely rock formations, well stocked koi ponds, and unique trees in their gardens.
We really were getting close! Just a few more minutes, I kept telling the girls.

I saw this dragonfly chilling on the leaves of this tree. He didn't move, no matter how close I got to him. I kind of wondered if he was still alive...?
I laughed when I saw this sign, because all I wanted to do at that point was halt. And rest. Ask someone to buy me a coke and massage my feet.

(In actuality, the sign doesn't mean halt and stop for a rest. It means you're forbidden from going to the area behind the sign...but it made me laugh enough to snap a picture. Obviously, I was delirious from fatigue.)
You can see the big waterfall in the background, but before we made it closer, there were enterprising locals lining the path the entire way up. Several people were offering ethnic clothes for kids to take pictures in. Since we had just visited the "village" earlier that morning, my girls were very interested to take their picture with the clothes on! They loved all the bling that was on their hats and skirts!
Everyone wanted a picture with them.




They were sad to take the outfits off when it was time to move on!

We walked a bit further up to see the waterfall head-on, but there was so much mist past this point I felt hesitant to leave my camera out. I packed it up and told everyone to take pictures in their heads!

The scenery we saw all day was gorgeous. It was breathtaking. It left me feeling so small and so in awe of our God's creative power. There were rushing rapids, sheer mountain precipices, thundering waterfalls...and all the people next to them seemed so very insignificant. It's amazing to me that of all God's creation, the thing that brings Him the most glory is not those things - not those awe-inspiring mountains or powerfall waterfalls.
The creation that glorifies Him most is...us. Hearts that are redeemed and turned toward Him. People who are full of praise and dependence on Him. Children who delight in His works and love telling Him about it.

The waterfalls and mountains and physical creation sure glorified God that day. I hope that I will be quick to do the same.