Bill Conrad
Hello, I am an American living in China. This blog has 2 parts, the first part is from my first trip to China in the summer of 2007, the second part is from my current stay here in 2008/09. Enjoy it...the occidental tourist
Travel Blog Posts
August 23rd 2008
Hello all! Well, here I am, back in Dalian, China, for another fun-filled trip. This time I will be here for about 5 months to study the Mandarin language some more at the same university I studied at last year, Dalian University of Foreign Languages. This is my first blog entry, and although I really enjoyed making the blogs last year, this time I won't be doing so many (or doing so many videos). I want to relax and stay off of my computer as much as possible while I am here, so my blogs might only be every couple of weeks or so. I arrived here about 2 weeks ago, and got all set up in a nice apartment in a high-rise, and while I am not posting pictures now I did upload a short ... read more
If you plan to go to China... must read
Published: March 4th 2008North America » United States » Nebraska » Omaha
March 4th 2008
Hello everyone, With the Olympics approaching in China, I anticipate more people will be reading this blog. I want to provide some info one last time before I close out this blog. I call this the "must read" post, because it deals with something most travelers may have with them: portable electronic devices. In the hotels in China, it seemed there was about a 50/50 chance that the electrical outlets worked properly. But even in the better hotels I stayed at during my 6 weeks in China, I was VERY glad I had a few basic pieces of gear with me. First, NONE of the outlets you will encounter will have a ground plug on the outlet. This means that you cannot plug in ANYTHING that has the 3rd prong on the plug. I happened to, ... read more
September 22nd 2007
I am home. Since returning, I have gotten some emails about where I stayed in Beijing and how to get around, so I decided to post some helpful information for future Beijiing travellers. The Shuttle bus pictures are two sides of a brochure that can take you from the airport to the cool part of Beijing, near Tiananmen square and stuff. The GOTOhotel pictures are the brochure of the hotel I stayed at... highly recommended. 260 yuan per night (with a deposit of several days lodging up front) and it has maid service, a toilet and shower and high speed internet in each room. When you get through customs at the airport, find your way to the information desk which I think is on the lower level. Show them the shuttle bus brochure, and they will ... read more
August 19th 2007
Hi everyone... we arrived in Beijing today, got checked into our hotel that Miao's friend booked for us, and it is awesome!!! The hotel is a bit on the expensive side for Beijing (260 Yuan = $35) but it is in a great location, and within walking distance of Tiananmen Square. It also has free internet in every room, so I am using my laptop to make this blog entry. Miao's friend has really been a lifesaver, she booked us this great hotel, and bought our train tickets to Taiyuan. To repay the favor, we took her out to dinner at Pizza Hut. It was fun. While at Pizza Hut, Miao videotaped me saying in Chinese "I am now going to Tiananmen Square," a sentance I learned in my Chinese class back in March, and now ... read more
August 17th 2007
Hi Everybody, can't talk long. I am in Fuxin with Miao and her parents. We are staying in their apartment and we have basically been eating every lunch and dinner with various relatives... it has been very interesting. They have been very gracious to me and treat me very well. It is really nice in this city. It is small, but very populated. For the blog, I have pictures only this week, as I have been very busy with social commitments. I did film a short 10-second video for a Gmail contest on YouTube at a big square in this city with a Mao statue. If you really want you can see the short video JUST CLICK HERE. Today we take a 15 hour sleeper-train ride to Beijing, stay one night, then take a 12-hour sleeper-train ... read more
August 13th 2007
In the city of Shenyang, NEW VIDEO This past weekend (fri and sat night) Miao and I stayed in Shenyang, the captial of Liaoning province. We didn't come to Shenyang specifically to visit the city, but rather because it is on the way to Miao's hometown and she has two life-long friends that live in the city. I arrived in the city sort with pretty neutral expectations. Dalian is a beautiful coastal city, whereas Shenyang is in the middle of the province and not really famous in the way Dalian is. It has 7.5 million people, and seems to go for miles and miles, as I noticed on the train coming into the city. I don't have much time now to describe the wonderful time I had, but I will share one little story. Miao's two ... read more
August 8th 2007
Last Day in Dalian Today Miao and I will be packing up our luggage and getting ready to leave. Friday morning we get on the train and head up to Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning province. We will be in Shenyang for two days, then take another train to Miao's hometown of Fuxin where we will stay all next week. I am very excited about this second half of the trip. I will get to spend some time in the countryside, as well as see Beijing and Tiananmen Square. We scratched the plans to see the Great Wall, though, which I am kind of bummed about but it was a necessary move. I originally planned on staying in Beijing for about a week, but I loved Dalian so much that after a week or two ... read more
August 7th 2007
UPDATE ON MY TRAVEL BLOG plus a NEW VIDEO!!! Hi everyone, First, just want to let you know that travelblog.org suffered a memory failure, and the guy (yes, the ONE guy) that runs travelblog.org did not properly have his backup mechanisms in place, so all of my former travel blogs have been wiped out. I am back blogging here though, because while this site was down I investigated the alternatives and they all suck. So here we are... THE GOOD NEWS IS, Since I use YOUTUBE to host/broadcast my videos, the only content I lost was the text of my blogs and the pictures I had uploaded. So, if you did not get a chance to view all of my China videos, or if you want to RE-view them or forward them to other people that ... read more
July 30th 2007
My Travels in China Bill ConradNEW VIDEO!!! "Dry Run Video" for the Dalian BEER FESTIVAL!!! All of my videos up until now has just been me editing and dressing up raw, 1st-person footage. For the next part of my trip, I want to include some "reporter on the scene" type of videos, where I "cover" aspects of China or certain events... more like what you would see on a travel channel on cable. Enter sidekick Miao, who has had so much fun helping me make my other videos that she has volunteered to be my new camera person here, allowing me to play on-camera host to you, my honored viewers! This coming Friday, here in Dalian, Miao and I will be going to their annual international beer festival in Xinghai square. I want to cover ... read more
July 22nd 2007
Here is the movie of my class field trip. My Chinese class took a field trip on Friday to Dalian's Labor Park. Made a video of the day. It's about 13 minutes long, and it shows the beauty of the park and all the different things people go to the park to do. Met some Americans from Missouri that had lived in Dalian for 5 months or so, and they love it here. They are at the end of the movie. ... read more
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