Bluesky Hotel Yantai

It was almost with a sense of euphoria that I arrived in Yantai. I don't really know what prompted this. Perhaps it was relief that the ship hadn't sunk on the way there; perhaps we can take a purely materialist view and say that it was just a chemical cause; perhaps it was the friendly, clean, good value and well-situated hotel that I checked into; or perhaps it was the effect of the friendliness of the largely blue collar population who observed me with ...

... fruits growing in Penglai that can heal any disease, grant eternal youth, and even raise the dead.

Historically, Qin Shi Huang, in search of the elixir of life, made several attempts to find the island where the mountain is located, to no avail. Legends tell that Xu Fu, one servant sent to find the island, found Japan instead.

In Japanese mythology
Penglai, Shandong, China eddakath

... development, facilities in Yantai are improving, and transportation is becoming more and more convenient. Ships, trains, planes, buses and taxis have modernised daily life and continue to attract more and more tourists. The city now has several Mc Donald's and KFC eaters along with a Walmart. It's shopping district is huge and it would be very difficult to think of something you couldn't find.

Yantai, Shandong, China eddakath

... Forbidden City was extremely impressive and the Lama Temple was gorgeous (still trying to get photobucket working). The little I saw of historic Beijing was very cool, I'm really excited to go back. You could really tell it had more of a sense of community among the neighborhoods and the people were very friendly and relaxed. The Summer Palace is definitely the most awesome place (and the one to which I forgot to bring my ...

Just recently I was visiting my best Chinese mate in the seaside city of Yantai. On this one day, while we were strolling through a mall, I heard this Chinese trance-dance song playing faintly off in the distance. I thought, "Oh man, that was my song! My friends and I used to jam to it at the many Chinese dance clubs we used to frequent". I never knew the name of that song, but I was about to ...

Ok folks, I've finally started writing a blog! Just getting to grips with this site, it seems pretty complicated so I'm not going to get down to any serious writing just yet. It's almost dinner time here, the weather's pretty nice today as it's just about the end of winter now and I'm just lazing around. Have been watching some random TV ...

... you but brutal in his teaching. He made students pay for mistakes (I heard) but his students were also very good at what they did which makes me think he was a good teacher. Chen Shifu was the baji master, the one who usually attracts the most attention with his greatness. He loved rave music, Jackie Chan, dark sunglasses, hanging out with students and chinese chess. He was the most fun master of all, really weird considering his martial art was the ...

... It has buildings old and new, hundreds of trees, a reflecting pool, and is crowned by a lofty bell tower. What a lovely picture to paint for your brochure! I could leave it like this, but I feel like you should all know what this city looks like when you look a little closer. Campus buildings seem ageless; they should be new looking structures, but they are covered in a film of soot that makes them drab and disgusting. The market smells of the pit toilets ...

... make you feel purified and tranquil, which I can vouch for (or it may of been more of been more the fact that I had boards of Canada and Zero 7 on my i pod and had just hiked up this hill.) The night before had been our 1st night out in Yantai, which was interesting to say the least. Something had been bothering me about Yantai, it is a seaside town and smells and has similar weather to say Brighton for example. However ...

... the generous gift of food by one of the teachers...'these are small worms... they are very nutritious'. Well nutritious they make be, but tasty they certainly weren't! Check out the photos for an appetising look at my dinner! On an equally crazy, but much more tasty note, myself and some of the other volunteers decided to be adventurous and feasted on fried ...