Saturday July 14, 6:30 am. *****click here to see my new YouTube video from Dalian***** First full day in Dalian is history. We started out going to the free breakfast at our hotel. It was not what I expected. Lots of green salty vegetables, a few of which were, according to my friend Miao, "from the sea." Miao seemed to enjoy her breakfast, as did the other 75 people that were waiting for the chow bell to strike at 7am. Me? I ate a few pieces of "cake" that was actually quite delicious (think jiffy cake with no frosting [View Full Entry]

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Well, I am here. Got some great photos and video already, but in this internet cafe the computers are very slow and my laptop battery is about to run out, so I only got a couple of quick things to share. Beijing was smoggy flying in. Made L.A. look like the wild blue yonder. Some coolie kid that would not take no for an answer lead me to my connecting flight then tried to "extract" some bogus charge because my "bags were too heavy" and tried to pretend that he represented the airline and I had to pay him 400 [View Full Entry]

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We were seen off on our journey by Mr. Zhong and Yun-Tian, our faithful hosts. I was remarkably sad to leave. After only a few short days I felt as though I had settled into life in Dalian. It is amazing how the generosity of others has the power to make one feel at home, even on the other side of the world. The bus ride to Dandong was roughly three hours. On the way we were treated a disturbingly violent movie involving motorcycles and Kung Fu, blaring on the TV overhead. At one point I looked out the window [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Beijing on an icy cold night to find the international airport essentially deserted. Our trip had gotten off to a rocky start. I will spare you all the details, but it involved a flight cancellation and a frustrated hour on the phone with Air Canada. The day was eventually saved by a kindly airline representative (and a little white lie about making it to Beijing in time for a wedding) which enabled us to depart only a few hours later than oringinally intended. We spent the night in a hotel near the airport and by the next day [View Full Entry]

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