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Shopping Day
We took the train into Dalian to do some shopping, but didn't manage to find any 'deals' so came home empty handed and tired after looking for an underwater camera for Chris. We eventually found one in Dalian and I'm really looking forward to seeing his pictures. It is hard to believe that our first year with Maple Leaf International School is coming to and end. Only one more month and we will be on our way back to Alberta for 7 weeks this summer. It has been such a busy year filled with travel, new foods and new friends, but still remembering (and missing) our Canadian friends and family.
We are so happy to have shared our week 'spring' holiday with Chris and Geoff. It was a great week for all of us. They had a really long trip getting here - especiallly for Geoff coming from Halifax . They met at favourite uncle Dennis' house in Vancouver and connected with Gary, Rhonda and kids for dinner before leaving the next morning.
Having had their flight postponed out of Shanghai, they had a 7 hour lay over there (ouch) , so didn't arrive in Dalian until late Saturday night and were in need of a good nights sleep. We spent the next day showing off our school and community and exploring the Jinshitan area. Unfortunately it was windy and cold, including a bit of rain, but time passed quickly.
We celebrated their first
It's a bird, it's a plane
XingHai (Ching hi) park was great, but the cool weather put a bit of a damper on our day. All the great statues gave a lot of 'posing' opportunity. You have never seen a nationality of people that like posing as much! Everywhere we go, people are posing - you really get into it after a while. night by buying a large box of fireworks and setting them off in the middle of the street just down from our apartment. I had hoped we could go to the beach and enjoy the evening, but it was too cold - fun fireworks though! They are the kind that we would see at home on the first of July- big and colourful, but by no means the biggest that we could have bought. It was just the biggest that we could easily carry! I think they were about $7 so well worth the money.
The restaurant scene in Jinshitan was a challenge. Lots of little hole in the wall restaurants that are a bit shakey for newcomers. Few restaurants are up to Canadian health standards - hot water for washing dishes seldom happens, change the oil for frying food- a couple of times a year, soap you say - what is that!, wash my hands - no soap or hot water. Oh well, we managed to find them some great meals that we all enjoyed.
The second day we took the train into Dalian and KaiFaQu, where we did some shopping and ate lunch at IKEA -
The Band
We all got into the posing! People from Dalian claim that XingHai is the largest square in Asia and from what we saw, there is no reason to doubt it. Another place that we have to go back to explore on a warm weekend. a favourite haunt of Maple Leaf teachers, but not the best lunch in town! we should have gone local! Everyone was so tired from getting up at 4:30 with the sun rising, that we crashed early.
Both of them found that this area was not as large a culture shock as they had thought it might be. The 2 cities are both large and bustling, and for the most part, people are fairly well off economically. Our small town is in the midst of a crazy building boom. The area is part of the Dalian economic development zone and they are certainly planning for a huge influx of industry and people. At the moment, though, the majority of the new apartments are empty, so there is a bit of a ghost like atmosphere in places. It is the National Holiday resort, though, and has a spectacular beach area. As well there is a Disney-style theme park on the so people from all over China come and spend time here in the summer. It is already showing more signs of life with a few lights in buildings and cars in some of the huge gated complexes and cars in Discoveryland
Beijing Aquarium
We passed on seeing the aquarium in Dalian because we told that the Beijing Aquarium was not to be missed. Loved the underwater escaltors that took where you could watch huge turtles, manta rays, and hundreds of colourful fish swimming overhead. There were a couple of displays not open which was disappointing, but the ones that we saw were impressive. Not so impressive were the hundreds of school children that overran the place when we were about half way through. parking lot.
On our third day, we had a driver take us into Dalian for the day to check out some sights that Rick and I had not seen yet, including a large square called XingHai, and a beautiful drive overlooking the ocean. Geoff and Chris loved one of the the underground shopping malls - 4 floors underground - small vendors all entreating you to spend your money with them. We still laugh at Rick buying a pair of shoes that he really didn’t want. The two saleswomen were so good that the really didn’t stand a chance of going out empty handed.Whenever they didn't have a size or colour, one would run (literally) off to some unseen location and come panting back with the item in question. Too funny. Chris, Geoff and I laughed ourselves to tears watching him try to negotiate himself out of the shoes, but they got the better of him. We finished our day off with a delicious meal at an Indian curry house and then got dropped off for our evening flight to Beijing.
That night , we had a second driver (Cat) meet us at the Beijing airport. He had
Which one is not a panda??
The aquarium is on the zoo grounds, so you have a 2 for one visit. When I searched the sight to get information about them, the comment was that the exhibits at the zoo would more likely scare than educate children. How true!! The animals were in cages similar to those I remember at the Calgary zoo as a small child - cramped cement enclosures with sad looking animals pacing back and forth. Even the beloved pandas were rather pathetic!! They did have a sign in the building ackowledging Calgary and the pandas that were lent for the Olympics. been recommended to us by friends here, because he spoke English well - what a bonus. He was pretty proud of the fact that the customers he drove had taught him the English he knew. And then got a good laugh out of the fact that they ended up paying him for it! He had a difficult time trying to find our hole in the wall hostel, though, and had us all wondering what we had gotten ourselves into (or what I had gotten us into because I had chosen the hostel!).
It turned out to be a great place - walking distance to all the city center attractions - Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square- as well as the subway (which turned out to be a lifesaver as we never did find a taxi driver who would or could take us back to our hostel!) It had a great bar/restaurant that we spent all of our evenings, many western travelers and a great friendly atmosphere. As well, western breakfasts! Rooms were small but clean and the staff was so helpful. We spent everyday visiting different sites and markets, but mostly ended up being exhausted and sure appreciated our place and
Summer Palace
The Summer palace was first constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). Throughout the years it underwent expansion and fires until in 1889 it was rebuilt by empress Cixi, who embezzled funds and ruined the economy to have her beautiful gardens where she entertained and dealt with the state affairs. a cold beer.
One day we hired the same driver to take us to a section of the Great Wall. We had asked him for a more remote section where it was not all restored and filled with souvenir sellers. He took us to Mutianyu, about 2 hours away. We were initially disappointed to see all the sellers at the bottom- and there was also a gondola if you didn’t want to walk the 1022 (we counted them) steps to get onto the wall. And if you didn't want to take the gondola down, you could take the 'toboggan' run. (Geoff and Chris did this and said it was a lot of fun - but Rick and Gail walked the 1022 steps back down!) Anyway, the Wall was so interesting - the main part where you go was restored, but at the end you could walk on the unrestored section and see it wind for miles through the mountain peaks. It was truly an amazing sight and the highlight of the trip as far as attractions. I am waiting for Chris's pictures because my batteries ran out of charge when we got there. I curse Chinese batteries which generally
Tiannamen Square
Tianneman Square is the large square in Beijing, on the southern entrance to the Forbidden City. This is where Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and is the site of the Tianneman massacre in 1989. I have just read a book called Red China Blues, which gives an interesting first person perspective on the student uprising. It made me wonder if the people selling photos in the square are still undercover police. We were surprised that everyone has to go through a security check to enter the square.
last one day of pictures - I'm always changing batteries!
Some of our best time, though, was at the hostel sitting in the bar drinking beer and laughing. It was so much fun to be all together. The weather warmed up enough to sit on the small front patio and watch the Chinese tourists watch us. All of us were surprised at the number of times random people came and asked if they could take their picture with us. You feel like a celebrity and realize how much of a novelty foreigners still are here.
On the last Sunday, we took the bullet train to Tianjin- about 150 km away, which took 30 minutes from city centre to city centre. Such a smooth ride that you would never suspect how fast you go until you look at the speedometer read out or check the traffic on the nearby highway which seems to be crawling along. Tianjin is the hub for Air Asia, which was where Chris and Geoff left for the next part of their trip - Malaysia and Thailand, and we returned here to Jinshitan.
Now we are back to work and winding down
Chairman Mao
Chairman Mao is still revered in China, especially by people of our generation. Although millions of people died in the Cultural revolution and the Great Leap Forward, he led the people from a poor rural economy into a major world power. He is 'under glass' in a special mausoleum in Tianneman Square, which I had wanted to see, but wasn't able to fit into our packed 4 days. Will have to settle for seeing the Mao badge museum here in Jinshitan. the year. Lots happening around the school these days, as usual for the end of a school year, and we are busy making plans for our return trip. Bye for now!
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Donna B.
non-member comment
good to hear from you
Hi Gail and Rick, Andrea and I were just commenting while out on the golf course (yes, Gail, I'm golfing in the Monday league, Pam too!) that we hadn't heard from you for awhile. So good to hear about Geoff and Chris' visit and all the places you visited. I love seeing your pictures. Don't despair about cool weather - we just finished about 5 days of wind, rain and heavy wet snow in many places (not here in the valley though). You know what they say about the Victoria Day weekend - never fails to live up to its promise of weird weather! Your school year is winding down and so is ours. Lots of work to do in these last 6 weeks. You must be looking forward to returning to Canada for the summer - safe travels! Hope to hear from you again soon, Donna Brennan