Blogs from Jinshitan, Dalian, Liaoning, China, Asia - page 3

Coming from northern Alberta, we know what cold is. And when it is cold, a person bundles up, sits in front of the television (or fireplace) and drinks hot chocolate - or other warm beverage. It was not in my range of thinking that I would be heading out to the airport for a trip to Harbin- to check out an Ice Festival - on New Year's day, with the temperature at our destination a frosty -39 Celcius! It so reminded me of one year ago when Connellans, Tutts and Berrys met at the Nest in Slave Lake for a 3 day ski and wine trip, departing at -40. Both of these ended up being fabulous trips, though. Leaving Rick behind, I joined Fairy (our intrepid tour guide), her husband Paddy, Marion as well as Peter ... read more

We have not disappeared since our last blog which described our Yangtze River cruise at the end of September. We just haven't been anywhere but have been busy. On several weekends we take the QingGui down to Dalian and wander around seeing the sights, visiting markets and attending Church. Since I am not burdened with a job I get to scout out many locations so we can find things on our trips together. I volunteered to help with the ESL Club, a group that meets after school to play card and board games and basically just have a good time talking English. We have played many card games that are popular in Canada but we seem to have hit on a winner: Junior Monopoly. Personally I really don't like "real" Monopoly and got the "Junior" game ... read more

We joined the biker crowd in October. Who would have thought that this would have been our mode of transportation in China! Many of the locals and quite a few of the teaching staff have bikes, which really opens up your world. We have seen so much already that we never would have been able to on foot or by train. It is quite the sight for see us on the road - white haired Rick driving along with Gail gazing around taking pictures on the back. Too funny! The latest trip to the market was the best - it was freezing cold this morning and very windy. We have only peanut butter and a couple of onions in the fridge. So we have to go the market and have decided that being really cold for ... read more

Day 3 of our travels: Todays excursion is on a small tributary of the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) River called the Shennong stream. It is well known in China for the 'trekkers'. Because the water level in the stream was very low, the men would often have to get out and pull the boats for long distances- this ws the only method of transporting goods to the people who lived here. Now, because of the flooding of the dam, their services are no longer used, - the water is 135 meters high- but this is still a popular tourist destination. ... read more

Day one: Our cruise down the Yangtze River was amazing. We started out on Monday morning 5:40 a.m. to catch a flight from Dalian to Wuhan - about a 2 hour flight. There we were met by a guide who took the 4 of us (Gail, Rick, Peter and Dianne) by a small bus to the city of Yi Chang, about a 4 hour trip. The ride went by quickly, watching the small farms with water buffalo, ducks, fishing ponds, lots of farmers working their fields by hand. When we arrived at Yi Chang, we were met by a guide who showed us the city for several hours until we could board the boat at 5:00. After dropping our bags off and finding our rooms on the boat, we ventured back into the city for supper. ... read more