Blogs from Liaoning, China, Asia - page 5

Contrary to what I had previously thought UK citizens are allowed into North Korea....well in this case at least Korean Waters! We took a boat ride out between a Korean island and the mainland. It was a surreal experience, enhanced by the foggy conditions! We were not allowed to take pictures of military personel or buildings, which is understandable, but Max and James did take a few. At one point a soldier pointed at us and I half expected loads of boats to come out of nowhere, board us and take us away! This morning was when people really started asking to take photos of Jess, she looks a bit like Tayler Swift, some not even asking and just grabbing her! We then went to the Eastern terminal of the Great Wall and the "1 metre ... read more

This was the shortest day so far finishing at lunchtime so i had planned a very long nap! However, after originally deciding not to have lunch, was persuaded by David to go with him, wally, cecillia and guang to get some dumplings. They were INCREDIBLE! My favourite being a weird combination of crab and chicken! We also learnt the characters for chicken and beef so hopefully will avoid the sheep guts next time.... When got back to room found the girls standing around with Anna locked in her toilet and the Chinese porters struggling to get in. She had been there for an hour with the porters not seeming to understand the urgency and originally suggesting they come up later to help, wouldn't have had the same problems with Stan, Jeff and Eric! I then had ... read more

Today we had our first lessons in Madarin Chinese, the least said about that the better, and Chinese Papercutting. The papercutter teacher spoke no English so was down to Jack to translate!! He was ridiculously skilled and told us how he used papercutting as a living and got his wife by making her some paper animals. The art form is still revered in small villages, how other cultures live! My attempts would do well not to scare off a potential mate but will upload some pictures when I get the opportunity!! We spent the afternoon trying to sort out the internet but to no avail as the central system crashed....so had to settle for sticking my phone out the window and using some dodgy WiFi. We did some Chinese Shadow Boxing, more commonly known as Tai ... read more

We got up early to leave for the airport to meet the others and get our connection to Dalian. Caleb and I grabbed a drink and a Danish and used the hotel wireless to check our emails, we are important men afterall! We checked out and took the shuttle to the airport where we met Hongbo and Ing who are Chinese national post-grad students from Durham who will be making sure nothing happens to us! We went through security where I had a dedorant, that i had thought i had left on the plane, confiscated, that could be an issue seeing how much I sweat and the fact that the Chinese dont really sell it! Flight was delayed so it gave us some time to chat and myself, matt and max to grab some beers seeing ... read more

SuperMoon of 2012 The biggest and brightest moon of the year. I am still learning on the camera so pictures does not tell how bright and big it looked. I promise I will keep learning. Hope you enjoy.... read more