Long Travelling Day to Shenyang

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I was lucky enough to go travel again after my recent trip to Peru. This time I visited the northeastern three provinces in China, an area with great scenery and plenty of culture and history.

The 3 provinces cover a vast territory. Jilin province is located in the central part of Northeast China, adjoining Heilongjiang Province in the north, Lianing Province in the south, and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region in the west. 95% of the Manchu minority live in NE China, but they only comprise of 5% of the nation's total population. Shenyang is the #5 largest city in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, Chongching and Tianjin with a population of 7 million.

Today was a long trip just getting to Shenyang, a recurring theme for the rest of my trip. We went to see a show literally translated as "2-person spin". It's more like a variety show where there is a bit of stand-up comedy, music and performance. It's apparently quite popular with the locals. Unfortunately it was performed in the local dialect so I didn't understand much. In addition, smoking is still common places pretty much everywhere in China, this place included, which prevented me from fully enjoying it. One interesting observation about smoking is that I didn't see a single woman smoke; they were all men.

Like most developing countries, traffic rules are only for reference. It's everyone for himself, for both pedestrians and drivers. I saw many cars drive through red lights as if they owned the streets. The amazing thing is that I don't think the number of accidents are significantly higher either.

*DISCLAIMER* I don't claim responsibility for historical accuracy. For those interested in the history of this region, you should probably refer to a more reputable source anyway and not listen to me. :-)

*NB* I took photographs with 2 cameras. I didn't realize there was a smudge on the lens of my ultrazoom camera until I came home. So you'll notice a fuzzy spot on some of the photographs.

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Photos

NE China
I was here

2-person spin
use a mask for diehard fans who can't stand cigarette smoke