Wan He Hotel Yantai

... that when you are happy, you see everything in a good light, or notice only the positive things; and when you are unhappy, you can feel that fate is conspiring against you in everything. I began to move from the former state to the latter as I arrived in Qingdao. This was undoubtedly catalysed by the state of the hostel I checked into. A section of the carpet was so wet it squelched underfoot; the plaster on the neighbouring wall fell off in large chunks ...

... found them to be just as beautiful as all the Chinese people I have met on my travels. When I use the term 'greedy' I am using it only to describe those involved in the tourist industry and the common road side stall located around the common tourist site. I have found there is a big difference between those in the north and the south of China. <br><br>This of course is common in all countries around the ...

... and Lesser Panda (&#23567;&#29066;&#29483; xiao xiong mao). Now on with business: Beijing was cool and all and I'm glad I saw it, and more glad I'll be going back when it's awesomer and a huge deal (Olympics), but Yantai is so much better in every way. It's pretty big but it's right on the water, the sky is actually blue (no smog), I don't need lights on in my room in the daytime, I have a single dorm room (not hotel ...

... 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

... dropping it. Eventually you get higher and higher though while is cool though it still takes forever to get decent height rather than just higher. The main thing people associate sanda with is it's application, sparring. I sparred properly twice after about two months of being at the academy, once against a Dutch guy name Alex (It was pretty even, I think I got more hits but I did not do as well as I should have) and the second against a girl named ...

... the words perfectly, it was hilariously cool! He then listened to Insane in the membrane while bobbing his head. Apparently one time he listened to harsh irish music and he went off and stole a bike and picked up a student and rode it back to the academy (everybody later found out that the bike belonged to the academy anyway but it was still funny). Besides this he was great at making speeches, encouraging students and teaching. He was also the best ...

... of the line, we discovered that tickets would not be sold until the following day. It was a little frustrating, but no big deal. The next day, I returned only to discover that they had sold out. Sold out? Already? No, I was informed that the ticket counter was only sold out of train tickets that day and that if I returned the following day I would most likely be able to get a ticket. If I came early enough. This was just confusing. Do they just divvy out 100 tickets per ...

... puppy petting at a strange little market (really wanted to free the big dogs that they kept in small cages - so cruel!), ate many Western dinners (including a Pizza Hut - oh yes!), got through quite a few of my DVDs ( I splashed out on a DVD player, lotsa DVDs and a new pair of jeans!) and of course, Havannas and Cape of Storms! Met some new crazy characters to add to our collection, the best being Wally (as in "Where's Wally?") who is the best face gurner I've ever seen and Wally ...

... lynched by loads of little kids. Apparantly the kids that weren't allowed to see me cried! Bless! The children's English was in fact very good, better than some of my children's English here! The gave me little presents and loads of photos were taken of the occasion, so I've included a couple. Excuse the perkiness, I had been sick within an hour of these shots! Anyway after a request from my mother I thought I'd briefly ...