Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Bridge to nowhere
I love the fact that the Chinese have saved this relic of the Korean War and turned it into a tourist site. Our first visit to Dandong was part of our September 2008 National Holiday week trip with Angi and Shannon. We had been in China all of 6 weeks so were still getting our feet wet. This year, Thomas and Feng-wei had planned a weekend trip with some visitors from the States but were going to cancel it because, at the last minute, the visitors couldn't come. Rick, Gail, Dianne and I offered to fill in for them and off we went. There was a snow storm on the way north so things were quite different from our first trip.
Hotels We thought it funny that we would be staying in a Super 8 hotel, just like the ones in Canada and the U.S. Well, not quite. We were prepared for the necessity of handing in our passports on check-in but they were having quite a time processing us. Jack and a friend of his in the local police department tried to help us but in the end we called Fairy back in Jinshitan to get the problem sorted. We never did find out exactly what was wrong but it may have been Angi's German passport. Apparently they don't
Tourist Trap?
During our fall visit the bridge was packed with people. The river cruise passes by the end of the bridge with much waving back and forth from boat to bridge. In March the bridge was almost empty. get a lot of foreigners at this hotel. That became more evident the next morning. Breakfast was included in the room charge but it didn't include any "western" breakfast items. Even now that we are much more familiar with things Chinese we still like our “western” breakfasts.
The good news was that there was a Dio Coffee across the street and they served a fantastic breakfast. The bad news was that when we went back recently, the restaurant was closed. The franchise in KaiFaQu apparently has closed out too. This is sad news.
On our second trip we stayed at a new Crowne Plaza Hotel which was as nice as the Kempinski in Dalian but half the price. Something to do with “Location, location, location”. The breakfast was great and we had to be careful that we didn’t enjoy it too much: too many places to go.
Restaurants On our first trip to Dandong we didn’t know much about ordering food in a restaurant. As we were walking down the road by the Yalu River we passed a restaurant with a picture wall showing the many dishes they served. We still couldn't necessarily tell what
Bridge at night
Pretty impressive at night with lights on both bridges. But they are turned off about 10 pm. was in them but at least we knew how much they cost and whether they “looked good”. We pointed to a selection of items and took our seats to enjoy our beer while we waited to see what we had ordered. Everything was great. So good that the next night we went back to the same restaurant.
We ordered pretty much the same things, including the beer. While we were waiting, a lady came over and spoke to us in somewhat halting English. Something about us liking to taste something. Hmmmm. After a couple of tries we realized she was the owner and was asking us if we liked the taste of their food (Hey, we came back, didn’t we?) Dianne took her over to the picture wall to ask what we had ordered. Turned out the dish we thought was some kind of egg dish was actually tofu. “Can’t be tofu” said Angi as she shovelled in another mouthful. “I don’t like tofu!” It was the first of many great tofu dishes we have eaten in China.
Unfortunately we couldn’t find the restaurant on our second trip. We spent the time in Hot Pot and Korean BBQ
As it was in the 1950s
They left the bridge much as it was after the bombing. A little paint and a few signs... and a cash register to tote up the revenue. restaurants. Not exactly a hardship.
We did stumble across a coffee shop named Peter's Cafe which is owned by a Canadian! The first trip we tried to go back a second time but it was closed because we were too early. The second trip we managed a Saturday visit but when we tried to return on Sunday for a final coffee before the trip home it was closed because the whole area had its water shut off!
And another bizarre coincidence. On our first trip, Shannon stopped in a convenience store and struck up a conversation with a chap also waiting in line. When she said she was from Dalian, he asked if she knew Thomas. Thomas happens to not only be one of the teachers at our school but was our driver on this second trip and our neighbour in our apartment building. Small world.
Bridge to Nowhere One of my favourite spots on the trip was the bridge that spanned the Yalu River between China and North Korea. It was heavily bombed during the Korean War. The Koreans tore down their side of the bridge but the Chinese left theirs standing, painted it and
China side of the Yalu River
This shot was taken on the river cruise to highlight differences in the skylines of China and North Korea. charge 20 kuai to walk out to the end. When we were there in the fall the bridge was packed with tourists. In March there were hardly any tourists. Maybe the snow did them in. The newer bridge beside it is a train bridge not open to tourists we were told.
The Memorial of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea This museum was quite a surprise to me. Full of pictures and material left over from the fighting almost 60 years ago. I had expected a lot more anti-West rhetoric but the English signs were quite muted. They stressed the bravery of the Chinese and their Korean allies and the lengths the Chinese "volunteers" went to help their friends. There was a huge diorama depicting the struggles including both painting and 3-D figures. There were displays much like the ones we see in Canadian museums. It was my first experience seeing this sort of thing from what was at the time “the other side”. Quite moving.
Yalu River cruise When we were there in the fall, a Yalu River cruise was in order. The boat takes you within a few feet of
First view of North Korea
Our first view of the Hermit Kingdom didn't fill us with awe. the Hermit Kingdom which appears quite different from the Chinese side of the river. The Korean side is pretty dark at night while the Chinese side is quite lit up. We chatted with a young man who was attending university in Dalian. He was happy to practice his English and we were happy to hear his stories about China.
The Great Wall - Eastern Section The easternmost section of the Great Wall has been highly restored but is still pretty impressive. It certainly gives you an idea of what it was like those many years ago as they tried to keep out the “barbarians”. In our first trip it was almost too hot. In March, it snowed during our drive up to Dandong but cleared off for our Wall visit. Climbing stairs covered with snow and ice wasn’t the most fun we had on this trip. Standing at the top and feeling the frigid winds blow over the battlements made us glad we weren’t on guard duty.
On our first trip we were asked where we were from by an older gentleman. When we replied “Canada”, he smiled and told us he had spent a year
Patriots
The city has many statues with very patriotic themes. at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Small world? Both Dianne’s degrees are from the U of A.
It was really something to look out over the battlements and realize to the east was North Korea. At one point we are sure you could just walk across the border. But then we noticed a person walking near the edge of the river and very shortly there were two men on the North Korean side watching him. Couldn’t tell if they were soldiers but we got the impression that things were carefully monitored. The watchtowers all along the fenced border were another reminder of this.
Drive home The only down-side of the trip is that it takes about three hours to drive back to Jinshitan. There is not much of interest on the return trip but it was fun to relive the memories of the visit to Dandong.
The Next Trip Dianne is busy planning our next trip. At the end of April we head to Shanghai, Guilin and Leaping Tiger Gorge. It’s another small group tour. Five of the six travellers were on the Panda trip last September so we know it will be fun.
Super 8 Hotel
Name is the same but the interiors are somewhat different. Super 8 is mostly motels in Canada, I believe but here it was a tower right across from the two bridges. The early morning trains weren't a feature. Pictures If you have made it this far, keep scrolling down as there are two more sets of pictures with extremely funny captions (dreamer, says Dianne). I have no control over where the pictures fall relative to the text but hope you enjoy them.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.238s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 12; qc: 69; dbt: 0.103s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb