Kempinski Hotel Dalian China

... restaurant and I really couldn't decide what I wanted. Burger or Enchiladas and somehow I had a vision of Randy Hansen telling me to order the Enchiladas. So I did. On the menu it says (all in English of course) that I would get three chicken enchiladas served with rice, beans and tortilla chips. Count the chips in picture. Tortilla chips must be very valuable in China. In case you don't see it, I received three (3 ...

... it is still hot for him. Oh well, I just continue to smile when people talk about how hot it is. I know they would laugh at me when I start complaining about the cold.

On one cool morning I was totally amazed as I went to school. It was so clear!! I could clearly see the mountains around Kai fa qu and thought, I need to get out and take some pictures. But, I had to work. Bummer! So as soon as work was over I headed straight to the apartment and borrowed Jason’s ...

... afterwards, the white towel turned a rather disconcerting brown. But nothing two thorough showers couldn't sort out!

Today I crossed over the sea from Dalian to Yantai. The ferry trip was not memorable, except perhaps for the bizarre and incongrous safe sex poster in the toilet: a picture of two snails, with their shells made out of condoms. I vaguely remember being told that snails reproduce asexually, which would make this ...

... looked pretty dirty. Smog filled the air, resting on the water like fog. It was stinking hot, I was wearing jeans and sweat was running off me in rivulets. I had my swim suit in my bag, but I balked. 10RMB to use the change rooms, 50RMB for a locker, 10RMB for a shower, all for the dubious pleasure of swimming in water that looked like **** and would indubitably give me a rash. I love the ocean, I love beaches, I love swimming, but I grew up in Perth where the water is ...

... come up with the most accurate adjectives... like a little kids room, meets misprinted fabrics, meets dim lighting and an attempt at cozy. We stepped in and I howled with laughter.

On the two little cots that were side by side, lay little cotton pjs, which we changed into and waited for our masseuse. When the gentlemen came in, they introduced themselves and started by placing warm pillows on our stomachs and ...

... and got the price down to Y60. So we agreed, and the shop keeper started running around to gather them all up.

All the places around us were closing, so we felt relieved and accomplished that we were getting the shirts. We had to open each one individually, because many of the first ones he gave us were navy blue, not black, so we had to keep a close eye on him.

Once all fifteen were amassed, we handed over the money—and he started ...

... would have felt was bang on. One student said: "If this had been real life I would have jumped from the building." The dejected way he said it was pretty funny, but under the circumstances, that is exactly what some people did.

Certainly some of the students did make money, but there was enough variety that it better demonstrated the result across the nation, rather than for a few individuals. One of the best parts was the first and only person to go ...

... in every form. They are poised and prepared for a future. China also has the least complicated tax, social, business, and government environemnts of the 3 countries. The effect is refreshing. Very little bureaucracy in relative terms, they don't even like traffic signals. It's not that there isn't procedure, they just understand and accept ...

... apartment which is about a ten minutes walk from campus (I haven't timed it yet.) The apartment is awesome! I love it!!! Beautiful hardwood floors, and a generally nice, modern design. On Saturday I woke up before 5 AM. Selina, one of the girls from the office, came at nine to take us to the University where we called home and checked our email (we don't have email or telephone service yet in our apartment.) After we got done with that she took us ...

... and we ate some cold steamed buns (i cant remember the pinyin spelling) from the previous day. anyway we spent about an hour and a half in mcds and after having stowed our bags away in a bag depository at the train station we headed for the park and the north tombs. the park was a nice gettaway from the dirty and car-crowded streets. full of people doing early morning exercises, dancing, kung fu, tai chi, that hake sak sport. we even joined in on a big group of dancers ...