China Post #5 UFO Hill

This weekend we headed to the appropriately named UFO hill on Saturday and Big Black Mountain (Dai....shan) on Sunday. UFO hill is really close to where we are staying and is not much of an outdoor experience, but it did still make for a nice half day out. We took a taxi to the base since we really did not know where it was. Turns out it is really close. Anyway, when we got out there were several street vendors selling kites and balloons.

There was this huge monument at the base of the road up and you can see the UFO in the distance.
With all the kites for sale, low on the "hill" there was a nice park with lots of people out flying or just hanging out in the nice weather.
Only a few 100 meters up the road there was this odd ball shaped enclosure off to the right. So we headed over to check it out. Turns out to be a pigeon ball? and up the trail from that is a sculpted stream bed with large "Alice in Wonderland" type sculptures like this corn.
After we made our way through the stream bed we came out at a pretty big reservoir, though I doubt that that is what it was for. Through this section there were several sculpted walls that had Linda and I wondering if we would get stopped for trying to boulder on them...

A steep trail lead up from the reservoir back to the road and this plank side walk along it. As you can tell safety is a top priority here. There were several sections where multiple pieces of decking were missing and even spots where you could tell that the support joist had dropped out.
To their credit though, further up they were working on repairing the side walk and converting it to rebar and concrete which can't rot out from under people. Though there were no barriers to keep people off or out of the work area which seems fine to me except for the fact that at times you might need to dodge traffic on the road.
Here are Linda and Dylan walking up the final steps to the UFO.
The UFO is really just a nice high spot to look out around Dalian. It of course cost money to go up into the UFO itself, though it is not expensive and it was nice to get out of the wind which was picking up as we got higher up the "hill". Dylan made the hike all the way up on his own but was pretty beat, so instead of carrying him down we opted to take the little shuttle. Here is a quick video of the shuttle ride, and for reference it was less crowded on the way down than when we were headed up.

Well it is almost midnight on Sunday so I'll get to posting on Big Black Mountain tomorrow hopefully. It is a beautiful hike and a must do.

China Post #4 Bathrooms

The Bathroom post.

I know that at least my mom will appreciate this one.

One of the easier thing to find out here is a bathroom. The universal sign is the one we all know and love, in addition it is one of the easier things to mime that you need...

In the mens room, urinals actually flush when you approach them, which made made me jump the first time, and again when you leave. On the other hand, one time when Dylan had to go and there was not a bathroom around we were directed to a drain out behind the building, nice.

Toilets, sometimes you get a regular one that we are used to in the US and other times there is a long trough with tread on either side for your feet. Another thing to consider is the TP situation. Many times there is not TP in the individual stalls but a large roll before you go in so you have to take what you are going to use with you. What happens if you need more?

Often times the sinks are in a shared area before you go into the men's or women's room.

Now onto something that everyone wants, this is a poor rendition of what I was serenaded by the last time I used a public restroom.

China Post #3 Thoughts on Dalian and Sculptures

Well we have finally settled in enough to get out and about. This weekend we headed to Golden Pebble Beach on Saturday with one of Linda's local co-workers and on Sunday we headed into Downtown Dalian, which it turns out is actually 3.8 million and not the 2 million I thought it was, still a small city by China standards, though I wonder if that includes the area where we are or not.

Anyway on the short walk to the train station we had to go past an area called 5 Colour City, which has a bunch of shops, bars and what not and also some weird artwork. This cat with a pen is on one corner.

And this snail on another,
There is also a staked pumpkin pillar, a pair of ants and a mural of the Cooookie Crisp dog (thief)

Speaking of odd sculptures. On Saturday at the beach there was a section of road that was shut down as there was scaffolding in the road so that people could finish up construction on 10 or more large sculptures of sea creatures. Most were pretty normal, a giant crab and other animals. Then there was this one in a round-about. ( whoops, I forgot to rotate it)
It is a volleyball fish head alien in a bikini, Linda pointed out that it kind of looks like Fiona from the Shrek movies.

Here is Dylan in the sand at the beach.
The other reason they had the road closed down was that they had dumped a bunch of sand in the road to add to the beach.
In addition there was no good way to get the sand onto the beach so there was a section of sidewalk torn up to get the sand moved onto the beach, it is surprising that there was not an access point for this already and it seems as though they just tear up the curb each year and rebuild. This also seems to be the case with planting of trees in town. Apparently whatever is being planted can't really survive the winter up here and in addition the trees are getting put in way too close together. The trees have no leaves and already their branches are hitting each other.

Here is a feature on the coast near the beach called the Dinosaur drinking the Sea, looks pretty cool.
One thing I'd been curious about since we landed was the cars with the little red ribbons tied to them. You can see this car has them on the mirrors and wheels. Apparently it is a superstition and brings luck, people tie them to new cars and cars of those with a new drivers license.
And finally, what is the deal with banks here? Most of the time it seems as though every other building is a bank, how does that work? Here is one corner in particular that is really over run.

Venice Beach Video

No it is not of people along the beach. As we were leaving we happened upon a shop for Arbor. Arbor is a company that as far as I knew made snowboards. Turns out they make all things board that you ride, so snowboards, skateboards, surf boards and a line of clothing as well that is largely made with bamboo fiber. Anyway we went in and checked it out since I was curious what a snowboard company was doing selling stuff in Venice Beach. Turns out it is the office that the entire company is based out of.

The clothing is really nice, super soft and Dylan dug the skateboards.

Images for Traveling and China Post #1

Walking along Venice Beach, lots of stuff for sale.

Wall mural in Dani's Deli, there food was really quite good and turned out to be about the last thing we have had that has not had noodles.
Linda and Dylan walking out to the ocean.
One of several local Kush Doctors where you to can walk in and get your exam and a therapeutic exemption for medical marijuana.
Dylan crashed out in LAX about 1 hour before our flight departed.
and continuing to sleep for about 7 more hours of the 13 hour flight.
Your local Dunkin' Donuts in the Seoul airport, of course I got a couple, need to feed the habit.
Dylan checking out the doll that he is going to be making.
Working on getting rice glue everywhere including where it needs to be.
Finishing up by putting the eyes and mouth on.
As you can see it was quite hazy on the day we landed which made things seem a bit more dreary than they actually are, this is the first large sculpture we saw as we neared the Dalian Development Zone or DDA.
Here is another with flags and some industrial smoke stacks for good measure.

China Post #2 Getting Settled In

Well, today I went with Dylan to check out a school at the other area we could have stayed during our time in China. It is far more rural and you can't walk to anywhere really. We caught a ride with a family that has a 3 and 5 year old that attend the school. They have been in Dalian for a year and a half and have another year to go. The school seemed really nice but they did not have space for Dylan. They are however planning on opening a school in May much closer to us, perhaps within walking distance, I have to see the exact location first, some people say walking would be OK and other say it would be too far. The mother, Heidi also had some very useful information, having been out here for so long. First and foremost she gave me info on a way to be able to log onto the web sites that I normally do and it seems to work!

I was also able to have their family driver take me to a shop where I was able to pick up a sim card for the phone we are being loaned by one of Linda's co-workers. I also put minutes on it and got a calling card. Then Lou, the driver, helped me change the settings on the phone so I could read it, pretty hard to function with a phone displaying a bunch of Chinese characters.

Anyway, some interesting things that I've noticed. In shopping malls there are not really different stores. It is more of a large open area with lines drawn on the floor to separate shops, it makes it hard to remember that the people don't work together and don't know what the other "shops" have. It is weird to see dog poop on the sidewalk and no dogs, I finally did see a dog today. Our car seat with a GoGoKids stroller attachment seems to be a huge curiosity, though maybe it is just the sight of the stroller in general. I've seen strollers in stores, but again not out on the street. I don't if people are thinking I'm lazy for not carrying Dylan when he gets tired, Dylan is lazy for not walking or that we pamper him too much. In some of the bigger cities (Dalian is about 2 million, so we are talking really big cities) plastic bags are apparently outlawed, but here they want to put everything in a bag for you. It seems like soda cans are thicker and bottles are thinner.

Apparently there is a local lady that works at Intel that is a climber and so Linda is trying to grill her for info on local climbing and how to travel to different locations. OK, I'll try to get photos up next time.

China Post #1 Arrival and First Impressions

OK, so I have a problem. I can’t access any blogs, much less my own to log into and up date it. So we are going to try having my father run updates for me.

Since my last post from the airport in Seoul it was a nice short flight to Dalian. Upon exiting the plane the differences were quite apparent. There were people in uniform lined up in places to kind of direct us to where we needed to go, though they did not say anything and we just followed the herd to immigration and onto baggage claim. We were met at the airport by a driver from the Shama-lux which is where we are staying for the next 3 months in Dalian.

It seems as though the airport is in a more run down section of Dalian or outside the city somewhat, I actually have not seen a map since we arrived. On top of that the driving was everything that I had heard it was and possibly more. There do not seem to be any rules that are followed on the road except that if you are bigger or faster you have the right of way. I have seen roads that are 1 lane each way with a shoulder on either side turn into a 3 lane road in one direction in a matter of seconds and slowly return to its original state after a bit of chaos.

As we got closer into the DDA (Dalian Development Area, I think, not actually Dalian) things got significantly nicer. There were some interesting large sculptures along the road and a park that had a whole series of flags from around the globe. Amazingly Dylan apparently recognizes the american flag, not something we have taken the time to point out to him that I know of. The buildings got more modern and well kept, though things here seem to be suffering a similar fate as in the US, there are lots of vacant spaces and buildings as people were building during a boom time.

Anyway, we pulled into the Shama-lux about half an hour after leaving the airport and while I just wanted to get to the room as quick as possible to lay down and rest, we got the full tour and explanation of the building, room and facilities. The place really is great and not something that Linda and I are really all the used to. The closest thing I can think of is luxury condos in the US, we need a key card to get into the elevator bay and again to get the elevator to go to our floor. There is room cleaning pretty much every day and linen changing 3 times a week. There is a “continental” breakfast every morning, but unlike in the US it is a real breakfast, not just some dry food and coffee, which of course means that I’m probably going to be putting on weight.

Everyone on the staff is super nice and while only a handful speak English they all will go out of their way to be helpful. Of course they all love Dylan. We have had to deal with all the usual people that work at the front desk and breakfast area as well as spending time with the cleaning ladies and the “engineers” (handyman) to deal with a few things that where not working quite right. I would have dealt with them myself but they don’t want you to do anything or modify anything, I did manage to borrow a screw driver to put together a stool that we got for Dylan.

On our first night we all tried to go out a get some essentials but Linda decided it was too cold and she was too tired, not to mention she nearly walked into a moving car in the parking lot. So instead I went on a walk to get a few things and find food for the night. It was pretty exhausting and all I wanted to do was get off my feet, but at least it was easier to get around quickly without Dylan. Anyway, it has been 5 days and I think we are all just about over our jet lag at this point. We still need to find a school for Dylan to go to at least a couple of times a week and figure out how to get him there and back since I can’t drive, not like I would want to anyway.

OK, until next time.