Hongkou International Hotel Yantai

... it wasn't any more luxurious) was in a completely different part of the hotel, and another floor, yet it also had damp problems. I kept the window open all night to ameliorate the stench, and moved to another hotel early the next morning. <br><br>Qingdao is a pretty seaside town popular with both Chinese and foreign tourists. I think this makes me averse to it. There are surges of half-dead tourists everywhere, and seemingly a rather weary response from much of ...

... several weeks. We then caught them on this at each new hotel we visited and we were then simply told, its summer and you either pay or you leave. <br><br>The same went for the water we purchased along with the food.<br><br>Even our cab driver was astonished at what was happening as being a local and wanting us to love his city he even went back into the hotels we had left and asked them what the hell they ...

... that before I got to Yantai, while my Chinese has improved tremendously already (especially speaking and listening comprehension) and our teachers are fantastic, I was kind of wondering why I came to China at all. Maybe it's just the water, but I already feel at home and am so glad I'll be here for another six weeks and in a similarly "rural" area for another few months. I swear my Chinese has improved has improved in the ...

... out. Turns out the song was playing real loud on some Chinese guy's cell phone, he was trance-dancing right there in middle of the mall! I said, "Say man, what's the name of that sweet song?" That boy didn't even stop dancing, he just said,"Bing He Shi Dai". Needless to say, now I jam to it on my iPod. For the best China travel information and tips on the Internet check out: www.askreddragon.com

... learning a bit of Chinese, snacking and drinking tea - taking it easy until training starts again tomorrow! Our group has a week until we're to be tested on the first proper fist form that we've been taught so I imagine this week will be a tough one. That's about all there is to report but will hopefully start updating sometime this week

... match against a 6 foot 6 guy named Matt. The first round really did not go so well. Surprisingly everything I had learnt involved me actually being able to reach the other guy's face and for me not to be able to be hit from more than three feet away. I figured out a strategy, kick him in the leg and run away, still got a few smacks though, he made me bleed my own blood . It was a dirty fight though, both of us were kicked where we should not have ...

... Du is 20, about 5 foot 3, maybe 50 kilos, but he could fly and pause in mid air. He got real hangtime and was famous for being one of the best at shaolin forms in the whole of China even at his age. He was truly awesome in his abilities but when he saw all of us helpless foreigners he was determined to get us into shape. That was 5 weeks of truly intense training, everyone in our class was dead by 430pm everyday, doing anything after that was like ...

... getting one of the last remaining tickets. I called the station. They said tickets didn't go on sale until the day before the train left. I asked another Chinese friend what to do, and she said that you had to book tickets months and months in advance. What happened to them not going on sale until 6 days before? or a day before? That was the point I called the director of my program, who quickly booked us on a 15 hour sleeper bus leaving at 10AM that Friday. The Sleeper Bus ...

... to go to Shanghai one weekend soon also... Ben is off to India this week for a month so we won't see him again. Will be sad to see him go. I will be taking over his tutoring so will have some money coming in, which is good - three children for an hour every day - should be ok. So I guess that's all for now. Thanks to those who have called - has been great to hear from you. Those of you planning on visiting or joining me, I can't wait to see you! And can't wait to see you all when I get back.

... listening exercises with the kids, since they don't have a tape. After that I have time to kill and try and talk to them about something relevent, today I talked about different countries in Europe etc. At the end of the lesson I normally spend 10mins playing games with them to reinforce what they learnt that day. I really like playing Pictionary and Chinese Whispers with them. Pictionary is hilarious because most of the kids ...