Intercontinental Dalian

Ok, I did it, I ate some western food. I still haven't eaten at McDonalds or KFC yet. KFC is everywhere. I wonder if they were the first American chain to come to China. McDonalds are prolific as well. No, my roommate and his friends wanted to go out for a western meal and we headed down to a place called "The Real Eddies" Not sure of the story behind the name. But here goes - Eddie was trained as a cook/chef in the ...

... make it back to the apartment safely. I was a little more daring on the last part of the ride and actually followed the traffic in a left turn lane. I parked the bike and can check that activity off my list. I rode a bike in China. For the short time I have left here, I do think that I will stick to walking.<br><br>Things have warmed up a bit from those few days. It is still very pleasant for me but not as cool as it was then. I hope you enjoy the pictures from that interesting bike ride.

I left Shenyang on a train bound for the seaside city of Dalian, with a journey time about equivalent to that of London to Edinburgh (I have no idea if the distance is equivalent; I suspect it's not as far). On board I spotted another chuckle-inducing piece of Chinglish: a girl was sporting a T-shirt with the slogan: "No Paint, No Gain" ... so near and yet so far ...<br><br>Dalian is a pretty city, which is not an epithet I would normally ...

... to make me burst some internal organs. It was starting to bulge in an unseemly manner having acquired about 4 fat books, cds, a pair of high heels, a handbag and fluffy Australian animal toys for Tie Shifu's daughters (care of my Mum). After the burst zipper incident at Huashan, I decided emergency offloading was necessary. I found a China Post (not difficult since they are just about everywhere in most Chinese cities, just like China Mobile, unless of course you are ...

... So I don&#8217;t know. I do know this. That thing is HUGE!!! I walked all around it and took some pictures and noticed that it was a fairly clear day so I took some pictures of the surrounding area as well. <br><br>One task down and now on to another. Run down the steps back to the road and up to the space ship. That is what I began to do and it actually didn&#8217;t take that long to get to the top of the other hill ...

... I was caught off guard. All he said was "relax, you must relax." I almost laughed, but did manage to relax.<br><br>Without a doubt, it was one of the most amazing massages I have ever had, head to toe.<br><br>Unbeknownst to me, Kirsty had called ahead and specifically requested one of the fellows who is particularly well skilled at targeting troubled areas, and is also blind. I felt guilty after when she told me, and ...

... hour, so they can create the logo themselves.<br><br>There are sometimes when doing something yourself is SO much easier than teaching it, or watching someone else do it, but I persevered, and didn&#8217;t change or overcorrect their work.<br><br>After school, Daniella and I went on the hunt for t-shirts, using the supervisor&#8217;s terrible directions, and the student&#8217;s rough estimates of the stall we should look for. Our last piece of advice was not to ...

... br>Before we arrived in China, the one thing we were told was that it was really hard to get the students actively involved in the class&#8212;that they remained stoic, sombre, and serious. That was NOT our experience. With very little prompting, students were up, out of their seats and rapidly trading, wheeling and dealing. <br><br>One student I watched kept making deals right before whatever stock he sold went up by hundreds of dollars, groaning at his misfortune ...

... a very fun backdrop for the excuse to sell the same **** you can buy for half as much 6 blocks South on the other pedestrian street, Tianjin Jie, Dalian's original market street. Tianjin is about 1500 meters long, starts at the Train Station and winds through several streets and plazas, ending, fortunately enough, about 1 block from my apartment. There is also a Japanese Street, fairly recent, in honor of the Japanese occupation ...

... peacefully and i hope without pain, just a few minutes after going into the back garden. At least i can take that much from it, she didn't have to be put down or die in some strange vet clinic; she died at home where she belonged. When i think i'll never see her running around again or the smile on her face (yes she could smile!) it makes me very upset. She's now ...