Dong Yuan Business Hotel Yantai

... visit.<br><br>Other palimpsests of Imperialism in Yantai include a wine factory (which produces a Riesling and a "Cabernet", both of which taste of nothing), and a small, active Catholic church. Perhaps the most memorable sights, though, were natural: a (dead) leatherback turtle which was perhaps 6ft long, and the jawbones of a whale which perhaps measured 5m in length; both of these were housed in a temple to the Goddess of the Sea. <br><br>It's a well-known ...

... stars?' Well when I look at history and watch the news that's the same question that all the wars are over, trying to answer this simple question. It's a question that there is no answer to and there never will be an answer to because each religion has their own god who created this and that. All of that is, is but a thought and it can never and will never be a reality as it is but a belief and a question ...

... 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 ...

... are heaps of rubbish piles seen on the sides of smaller roads at times out of the cities, though I did not see too many of them, the only one I really noticed was the one about a hundred metres down the road from the academy. Probably the most common and noticeable thing about day to day life with the Chinese people here is their tendency to make the hacking noise and then spit wherever they can. It seems like a very normal thing for them, men, women ...

All the masters in the academy trained in the Shaolin temple roughly from when they were 10 till 20. Every single one of them has their own style, amazing ability and approach to teaching what they know. There is no real way to summarise them as a whole because of how different they all are so I think it's worth giving little profiles of each. I was lucky enough to have Du Shifu as my main Shaolin master. He's the oldest shaolin master at around 28 (no ...

Things have finally become comfortable here and I'm getting into a nice routine. Classes have gotten progressively more difficult - this past Friday I was so frustrated after 4 hours of not understanding anything and being surrounded by 30 some Koreans all nodding and participating in class that I decided I needed to do something. I have cracked down on the studying (really.. I think I spend 8-10 hours a day on Chinese lessons/studying). I think I feel like I am making progress though ...

... stars have starred in that are banned in the UK) Recomended viewing for this week is John Woo's Hard Boiled (if you like beautifully shot and well choreographed Kung Foo) Farewell My Concubine (an excellent Chinese film that manages to deal with the issue of homosexuality in China very effectively considering it was only declared not to be a serious mental illness about 4 years ago by the government)and Top Gun (many humorous homo erotic overtones and excellent 80s sound ...

... after a month. We went out for one too many drinks and met a random collection of ex pats who plied us with more alcohol. As is often my job I stepped in to look after the sick and needy. After a few broken taxi rides back (to stop for those who were feeling a bit queezy) we arrived back very late, but being special I got up after 3.5hrs sleep to teach two lessons the next morning! They don't call me dedicated for nothing! Other than that we've spent a week ...