Phoenix Garden Hotel Yantai

... yet were unfazed.<br><br>Being a port city, it's unsurprising that there is quite a collection of Western-influenced architecture here; and, as is my wont, I assiduously tried to see it all. I became more self-conscious of this habit when I read this week of one of Tolstoy's protagonists: "Looking at places of interest, not to mention that they had already seen everything, did not have for him, a Russian and an intelligent man, the inexplicable importance that ...

... Catholic Church that was built during the treaty port days and happily for me it was actually open as it was closed when we went past several hours prior. Here in China it is actually unbelievably hard to find a church that is open to the public outside of worshipping hours. For those that know me, I am a huge fan of temples and churches yet I am not a religious man what so ever. I simply put my faith in ...

... each other better, told stories, got a little punch drunk, and got to laugh and hang out with our professors. Christy, I'll let you discover for yourself the charms of Chinese train-travel but just say it's awesomely ghetto. As I mentioned before Beijing is HUGE. So many people, so much pollution, it's a crazy place. But it really didn't feel much different at all, except that it was a city. I could have gone to DC and it ...

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 ...

... including coco pops and sugar puffs at times) when I noticed what looked like a mother kneeling down next to her young son adjacent to a fridge full of fish. I wondered why the child seemed to have his trousers down but the mother answered my query by standing up again with a ziploc bag full of a yellow liquid in her right hand. The child put his trousers back up and took his mother's hand and they walked off. There seemed to be a strong movement for ...

... 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 ...

... and I would not be able to read once it got dark. That meant that for the remaining 7 hours all the was to do was stare at the top of my bunk, which got boring, or fall asleep again, which was hard to do in a sweaty bus with distractions such as the sketchy bony elbow girl and the man smoking cigarettes and staring at me and from the bunk across. By the time Shenoa and I got to our youth hostel in Beijing (after 4am) all we wanted to do was breathe fresh air, stretch our ...

... days, and another indoor clothes market which sells lots of cheap hand made fabulous clothes. Unfortunately China is not what I was expecting in terms of cheap electrical goods, everything seems to be a few paces behind the UK. They still sell tapes and tape players everywhere. News since I last spoke to you all being Iv decorated my room, its now got a few Manga posters up and souvenirs from Beijing. Music Iv been getting into and I recommend everyone should listen to is Cat ...

... sadly lacking! Half of the day there is no water in my taps/toilet/shower. How does your toilet flush without water I hear you ask... exactly, good question! When I can finally get water it is a dribble and cold... Finding five minutes of hot water for a shower is an absolute mission and one that is starting to get to me! Sometimes the shower pretends it has water, then after one minute, suddenly decides to have a laugh at my expense and stop. Seems every day ...