We'd Like To See Your References...

Alright, I know I've been crap at posting lately, but it's not my fault! The only reason this is getting posted is through the grace of Buddha and his karmatic rewards. See, I'm stuck on dial-up, which though slow usually allows some movement on the web. However, for whatever reason every time I've tried to go anywhere online for the last week I've just been met with "Page Cannont Be Displayed" errors.

Until about five minutes ago, I was beginning to think it might be something ill in my new system (more on that in a moment), but as this page seems to be working, perhaps others are as well. There may be hope for this dial-up thing yet.

Right, so I'm typing this on my brand-new, fresh out of the box (as of Monday) laptop. Now, not to get all gushy about inanimate objects... but it's love. I know, I know... I've been throwing that word around on this site quite a bit lately... but after suffering through a mediocre system for the last two years, it's nice to have some power again.

For all the techno geeks out there, the following is for you, and for the rest of you, just skip down a bit:
What I had
PIII 750 MHz
256MB RAM
10 GB HD
12" screen
8MB video RAM

What I've got
P4 M 1.7 GHz
512MB RAM
60 GB HD
15.4" WXGA wide-screen display
256MB video RAM
DVD player + CD-RW

It's great.

I looked around at name brand computers, and settled on getting a Chinese brand called Hasee. I checked out the company online and feel pretty comfortable about the purchase, and the comprehensive warranty is nice too. When I went to look at computers last Friday it was priced in the flyer at 8999 yuan, but when I came back on Monday the price had been dropped by 400 yuan to 8599 RMB. So, paid to sit on it over the weekend - and it was nice because I had already settled on paying 8999 anyway. For all those without a calculator, that's about $1,300 Canadian. Not cheap, but well... if I'm not going to Australia, I think I deserve a treat. Ok, ok, Maggie's the treat... the laptop is just a bonus.

So now a word on the Chinese employment system. I'm having the fortune of witnessing first-hand what an averagely employable Chinese person needs to do to get a job here. About a week ago Maggie started seriously looking for a paycheque, and though I've asked loads of questions, I'm still pretty much in the dark as to exactly how it all works.

Basically all the ads she answers in the newspaper are from a few (maybe one?) headhunter-like companies that search out employees and match them with a job. The catch is that unlike any employment program I've see, this one runs you 150 kuai. So, after an interview with the employment company and forking over some cash she was given some good leads to follow - of which nothing seems to have panned out. Then yesterday she went to another interview where she was told about an internet sales job and was also offered 300 RMB for 3 hours of modelling work. Modelling what? Well.. underwear for the Japanese market. She was promised her head would not be shown and her body would just be seen by Japanese... she passed on it.

Going to the Internet sales thing today she learned it was actually trying to sell Web design to businesses on a 15% commission, no salary - meaning no sales, no money. Again, pass.

The kicker is that the best job she could really hope to get would be maybe a 40 hour/wk. job as a clerk or receptionist, pulling in about 1,000 RMB a month. That breaks down to about 45RMB/day - less than what I make in an hour of teaching at Future School (less than half of what I'd make an hour doing private tutoring).

She wants to get a job to help out, pay her own way for things, and start saving for coming back with me to Canada next summer (that's right Cory, looks like I've got a date for the wedding). I put this all in perspective though, and it just seems like she's throwing pebbles in the Yangzi to help build the new dams.

It really makes me feel lazy too. I do bugger all (work 2 days a week - and not even full days) and get paid more than three times the amount of someone who slaves away Monday to Friday...

So, things I'm planning to do to help kill my laziness and eventual boredom:
1) Study Chinese
2) Learn how to cook Chinese food
3) Pick up some tutoring work (mostly to refill my bank account - damn laptop!)
4) Get fit (yeah, that's been on the list for years... but meh)
5) Get back into writing professionally

And if all that fails, I bought all ten seasons of Friends on DVD yesterday (for 55 RMB!).

Not Long In Dandong

But you don't really need long...

Monday Maggie and I took our trip up to Dandong and I think we were both pleasantly surprised by the congeniality of the place. Though I guess Maggie's disposition is a little slanted, this being the first time she's really travelled anywhere - and it's only 4.5 hours away. "They have YELLOW taxis here!" makes me laugh every time I think of it.

From what I had heard from others, I was expecting a shitty little villiage with a few restaurants, a rundown hotel or two and some boats on the river... what I found was very much to the contrary. Though not as big as Dalian by any means, Dandong is a full-on city.

After a rather bumpy bus trip we sorted out where we were staying (a school-provided apartment) and grabbed some lunch. We were both a bit eager to try the Korean food, being so close to the border and all. The food was mamahuhu, but as we learned, damn cheap. Every meal we ate in Dandong came to about half of what you'd pay for it in Dalian. None of it was as good, but it was cheaper. I guess that's sorta the slogan Dandong could go by.


[1] Maggie and I on the Yalu River Promenade. [2] Balanced relaxation.
With the afternoon to kill before I had to do my obligator three hours of teaching we headed down to Ya La Jiang, the river that keeps the North Koreans on one side and the Chinese on the other. The shore of the river has a nice promenade, similar (in a Dandongian fashion) to The Bund in Shanghai, and we lazily walked along it taking photos and checking out the brides getting their photos taken.


[1] A great place to fly a kite ... or hit Lao Wai up for spare change.
Class went well, two 1.5 hour classes with A7 and A6 students. After class Maggie and I hit some hot pot and wandered around the city a bit, calling it an early night as we were both exhausted from a late night out at Noah's Ark (a cool Dalian bar) the night before celebrating my roommate Ryan's birthday.


[1] A statue by the river, advocating peace I think - ironically the three girls look remarkably caucasian. [2] What would a city be without Mao greeting you at the train station? The positioning of the statue does give you the sense that he's telling you to get right back on the train.
Tuesday was the day we had to do it all - thankfully there was not much to do - again, this isn't exactly Shanghai or Beijing. We took a bus (4 kuai) out to Tiger Mountain (Hu Shan) where the most eastern section of the Great Wall (Chang Cheng) lies. The wall itself is really only a 'representation' of what the old wall would have looked like if a good number of centuries hadn't had their way with it. It's only about 15 years old and a kilometre long. Essentially you climb the wall up Tiger Mountain and take in the surrounding scenery - which justifies the 40 kuai entrance fee (30 for the wall, 10 for the manditory museum at the other end). It's a bit weird, after being to the 'real' Great Wall that majestically rolls off for untold miles in the distance, to be able to comfortably (like without straining) see both ends of it.



The [not so] Great Wall, the surrounding view.

The best bit, in my opinion, of the trip was being so close to another, semi-forbidden, country. After you do the Great Wall you hike around the side of the mountain and are literally a stone's throw away from North Korea (and men with rifles keeping a VERY close eye on you).


Local wildlife.

[1] A steep but fun climb around Tiger Mountain. [2] The side with the boats is China, the side with the bushes is North Korea.
We returned to the city and again went down to the river to see about taking a boat ride along the other bank to take a better look at the Koreans. There are a number of boats that will take you out on the river, and the standard fee seems to be 10 kuai in a crowded boat or 30 kuai if there's no people. Due to it being rather late in the day we had to take the 30 kuai option, but having a big tour boat to ourselves was kind of nice.


Dandong shore - North Korean shore

Boat from Dandong - Boat from North Korea
The Chinese and North Korean banks are complete contrasts. Dandong is a big, developed city with a beautiful treed street that runs along the river, the Korean shore is just a collection of old boats, some cranes and a factory. We did see some people fishing, but they only returned my wave with steely stares.

Satisfied we'd seen all there was to see in Dandong, we had some food, crashed and caught the bus first thing in the morning back to Dalian. All in all it was worth the visit, but as everyone I've talked to says, it is easily done in a one day, one night trip.


The smile that kept me in China.
Well, I'm going out today to take a look at a new laptop. This one has been acting up lately, and it is a little dated, so I'm considering getting a new one. It'd be nice to have a more powerful machine, but the cost will largely decide whether or not I'm willing to part with the hard earned People's Money I've been saving. I've been tossing around the idea of getting a new laptop or a new digital SLR camera... I'm not 100% on either yet, but I think the laptop is a more practical purchase, even if the camera is a bit more coveted.

It's been strange not having direct Internet access at home, and to be honest, perhaps it is for the best because I've not really missed it. I checked my e-mail nearly a week ago and really haven't been too bothered to go and check it again even though I'm only a block away from the Internet cafe. However, I have finally gotten around to sorting out a number of photos, so feel free to re-browse the following entries for their newly garnished visual appeal:

Shanghai'd
All Thai'd Up
Bye Bye Bangkok
Rain Rain Go Away
Diggin' The 'kok
Farang? I'm A Lao Wai Thank You Very Much

Eventually I might get those zoo photos up too...

Back To School

It's funny how for years after finishing high school I had this light-hearted feeling come June and dreaded sinking sensation come September; residual from my scholastic days.

Finally, in recent history, I've been able to shake this feeling and live every day as if it was the bland repetition that it is. However, it's September, and I've returned to school. Blah. I feel like buying new clothes and stationary.

With three weeks of vacation (even though it involved trekking around the most populated country in the world and one of the most beautiful places on the planet) it is nice to have a little bit of purpose infused into my day. My schedule is pretty easy and lax.

Classes at Future School are all two hours long with a 15 minute break after the first hour. For classes C2-C4 the foreigne teacher only does one hour (usually decided by the foreign teacher), and then C5-C13 are all full on two hours. The other type of classes are C&P (Children & Parent) classes, which are a bit nerve racking as you basically teach a bunch of little (like 5-6 years old) tykes with their parents pushing them (often literally) to answer first or most. Fortunately the kids only get a half-hour dose of Native English.

My schedule has me doing a straight 4 hours Saturday morning (C10/C9), then I have a extra long lunch, going back for an hour of C3 at 1:35-2:35, I get another extended break, do an hour (3:15-4:15) of C2 and then go home an hour earlier than I ever did at my last school. Sunday's are a little longer, with a C9 first thing, then two consecutive 1/2 hours of C&P after about an hour break. Then after lunch I kill my afternoon teaching a C13 class and an adult class.

Other than that, my other hours are rounded up with another 2 hours of the adult class on Wednesday nights for two hours. This leaves me Monday - Friday completely to myself (minus those 2 hours on Wed.). Believe it or not this gives me more than enough money to survive comfortably here; however, I may pick up some tutoring to give me a bit of extra cash.

The new schedule isn't the only thing that's warmed me to this place. The school itself is quick great. Coming from Jinzhou, easily the most 'rustic' of the Dalian branches, it's a life of luxury here. We've got a big bright staff room with couches, organized folders, easy to access lockers (and enough for all the staff), and easy to find resource material. The staff also seems quite warm and friendly. That's one area of the Jinzhou school that will be tough to top as the CTs and staff there were awesome - hell I fell in love with one of them. But it's close running regardless (for being cool, not for falling in love with additional members of Future School staff).

It's a bit strange being a member of a 7-member foreigner teacher staff, but there is a familial feel to it. We go out for lunch together at a local restaurant, and all seem to get on rather well. It's nice to finally meet the somewhat legendary Pheobe and Richard as well. They are a British couple that have been here for quite some time and I had heard a lot about from other teachers. It's good to see that the kind things that had been said are all true.

Oh, the one other thing on the wire for news is that it looks like I'm finally going to Dandong. Dandong is a city in Liaoning province (same as Dalian) that sits right on the border with North Korea. It has a few sites to see, but the main attraction is that you can take a boat out into the river that seperates the two countries and point at the poor, repressed folks on the other side.

The best bit about this trip is that aside from Maggie's bus tickets there and back, the travel and accommodation is paid for by the school. "Why?" you ask. Well, they need a teacher to cover a 3-hour adult class Monday night and are going to farm me out to handle it. I have to work, but I get paid 100 kuai (about $15 CND/h) to to it and get the free trip out of it. Not too bad. I wasn't sure if Maggie would be keen on going, but she seems quite excited about going on a little trip with me. We'll not have a load of time to see things, as the most I can stay is until Wednesday morning, as I have to get a bus back to Dalian to get to my class at 6 p.m. Everyone I've talked to though says that Dandong can be done pretty comfortably in a day trip.

Alright - one final thing. I finally saw War of the Worlds. I love seeing movies in the theatre. As someone who's sat though countless very poorly synched copies of bootlegged films, it's nice to just sit back and see everything the way it's intended, not the way a concealed Sony Handycam reproduces it.

Farang? I'm A Lao Wai Thank You Very Much

That's right boys and girls, I'm back in China.

After spending Tuesday at Ree's school (Freddy and I dusted off our Teacher's Caps), I caught a late night flight (2 a.m.) from Bangkok to Shanghai, and then flew on from Shanghai to Dalian first thing in the morning. I had thought the ticket was going to run (at cheapest) about 14,000B (divide by 35 in Canada and 5 in China), but Rieng was able to find me a great ticket for only 10,600B - about the same price as my flight from Shanghai, but this time including a flight to Dalian.



[1] Freddy, myself and a class of curious Thai students. [2] Our masterpiece depicting how elephants got to Koh Chang. Freddy and I were both surprised we had such talent. [3] Freddy doing autographs.
Maggie had informed me the day before that she got a new hairdo and that it was so bad even her parents said she looked ugly. So, a bit aprehensively I met a still very beautiful, funkified girlfriend holding a sign that read "Ryan, This Is Maggie!" at the airport. Funny girl.

We got to the school, sorted out where my new apartment is (about a 5 minute walk to the school. 7-10 back, it's uphill). It's pretty centrally located to this part of town and is close to a big supermarket, shops, restaurants, etc. It's about a 1/2 hour on the bus to downtown (which, ironically, is the same as it takes from Jinzhou), but feels a lot more 'big city-ish'.

The apartment is cool, has a balcony, a queen-size bed!! (still hard as stone though), a TV in my room, a nice big fridge (my old fridge was about the size of a bar fridge), and some other features I was impressed with, but forget now... Oh! Hot water! (not just in the shower).

I also think I've lucked out with a rather cool roommate, incidently also named Ryan. He's Chinese-American, and other than that... I really don't know much about him yet.

So, reflections on my trip to Thailand. Well, it was wet, too short and Maggie was absent. I am already planning to correct these things for next time (maybe March?). All and all it was a good time, and it was awesome to see Rieng, Ree, Tee and Khak again. I left Freddy there, and he was planning to head to Koh Phagnan yesterday or today. It was a bit weird saying goodbye to him, as I realized the other day we've spent nearly every day together for the past two months. We're like souls though, so I'm sure our paths will cross again.

It wasn't as hard saying goodbye to my Thai family this time as my return showed me that it's not as hard to get back to Thailand as I thought it might be when I left in March 2004. I will still miss them a lot though, and am bummed I'm not going to get to see Ree's new 1,000,000B car! She buys it next week.

Anyway, I'm back in China, and should soon have Internet at home ... so resumes (and in some ways begins) my life in Dalian. When Derrick (www.maskofchina.com/hk) passed the Dalian-blog torch to me back a few months ago, I thought it would be a short-lived reign... but to borrow a VERY overused, yet fitting, cliche... if home is where the heart is... then my home is about three feet to my left watching some strange video at this crappy netbar. And so it would seem, Dalian, also, is my home.

My first eight months here felt like a journey, an adventure. But now, I sense a different feeling, not really residency, as I am still an outsider here, but I just couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now.

Diggin' the 'kok

[1] Random beach shot. [2] Khao San at night.
I think I'm finally getting the hang of this city. My first trip to Thailand I loathed Bangkok, and when I got here this time I had much the same opinion. Even compared to China, there is just a plethora of people waiting to rip you off every step you take.

And because it's such a sprawl of a city you're always taking taxis or tuk-tuks everywhere. Unlike in China, where suprisingly the taxis are pretty honest, here they are quite happy to drive you in the complete opposite direction, take you to some dodgy jewel market, ask you to give your spleen to their dying child and then return you to the place they picked you up - charging you 10,000,000 baht for the 'experience'.

However, with the help of my trusty Thai friend Rieng, I've started to get a handle on the mass transit system, and am now fairly mobile here. They've got a extensive (if not confusing) bus network, a skytrain and a subway.. the last two of which are my current favourites and the saving graces of the city.

So, after a final soggy night, Freddy and I have returned from the island and made our way back to The City. I headed back to Rieng's while Freddy hung out downtown (he's waiting for me to finish this entry to tell me why he didn't sleep last night). I got my China Visa this morning and will be sorting out my flight today or tomorrow.... then home to Dalian. I'm getting excited. I'll miss Thailand, but that's not the thing I'm missing the most right now.

Rain Rain Go Away

My god, when they say 'the rainy season' they don't mess around. It's rained every day since I got here. At first it was charming, but now having no dry clothes and no tan, I'm getting a bit tired of it.


[1] A rainy day lying in a hammock. [2] I couldn't resist taking this to show Maggie.
Other than the rain making everything a bit soggy... things have been a lot of fun. Last night we broke in to the big bottle of vodka Freddy and I went halvsies (how is that spelt?) on at the Shanghai airport duty free... it quickly became a communal thing and kept us sitting around the Treehouse restaurant/bar quite late (minus a bit of time to go get some more juice at the local 7-Day Mart, which uses a colour scheme remarkably like 7-11).


Veronica, Simon and Henrich relaxing as the sun goes down.
Eventually everyone turned in and walking back to the huts Veronica and I heard some Jack Johnson coming from a little bar so we decided to have another drink. One turned into a few, along with a load of food the kindly barman kept feeding us.

Today, after a slow rise - really there's little reason to do anything quickly here -, Freddy, Noi, Veronica and I hopped on motorbikes and headed to a rather scenic waterfall. The entrance price of 200B was a bit steep, and the rain took a bit of the pleasure out of the hike - but after getting drenched we didn't see any reason not to go swimming in the rapids. It was a blast, but has complete worn me out.

Freddy and Noi are waiting for me to head over to Bang Bao, a small fishing village just south of us. We're going to go see about some seafood to BBQ. The next problem will be to sort out a BBQ. Well, if nothing else, we can just eat the uber tasty red snapper or baracuda I've been feasting on at the restaurant for the last couple days.

I head off the island and back to Bangkok on Sunday and will be setting up a flight for Tuesday or Wednesday back to Dalian. This missing Maggie thing is tougher than I thought...

Bye Bye Bangkok

Arrival on Koh Chang.
After a somewhat adventuresome weekend in the sweaty city of Bangkok, Freddy and I have made it to Koh Chang - Thailand's second largest island (though I think it is in close running with Samui).

As mentioned, Saturday night we headed out on the town. After stumbling into a high-priced pick-a-girl bar (280B/$7 a bottle of beer) we eventually settled nicely in a cool spot with good music just down the road. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called... but it was on Royal City Avenue (RCA). We stuck to ourselves for the first while, but eventually started chatting to this Malaysian girl and her Thai friends. This seemed to open us up for conversation with pretty much everyone else in the bar.

We nearly had some problems when we innocently started chatting to two Thai girls (actually, they started flirting with us) and their boyfriends (something they both denied having) got a little pissed. I patiently explained to them that I didn't mean any offence and I was quite happily hooked up with a beautiful girl and had no interest in their girlfriends... they reluctantly backed off...

As the night wore on my memory gets fuzzier and fuzzier about what happened. I do remember talking to a girl who studied in Hong Kong and then sticking around after the bar closed and watching Freddy play pool with this rough and tough Thai girl.

Stumbling out of the bar in the early morning hours we decided some 7-11 cuisine was well needed. In the shop we met these three girls who sparked our curiosity as they were all in their pajamas. We spent an hour or so sitting with them at our bus stop. The night has now been immortalized by a simple phrase that Freddy uttered to me shortly before we hopped on a bus back to Khao San Rd. As I was talking to two of the girls about this or that he had been getting cozier and cozier with this other girl - touching her face and stuff - when I hear him say, "Ryan... [I turn to see him caressing her adam's apple]... is this normal?"

We spent Sunday recovering and trying without much success to figure out the sex of the person Freddy had spent the closure of the night trying to win the affections of.

Monday we headed down to the Chinese Embassy to make sure I have a way back into China. It took about 2 hours on the bus to get there, and I was a bit worried it would be closed - but I was in luck and my passport/visa will be ready tomorrow.

After the embassy we found our way to the Eastern Bus Terminal and got on a bus (230B) to Trat, the closest city to the port where you catch the boat to Koh Chang. We got to Trat at about 7 p.m. and decided that we were best to just wait until the next day to get to the island and we found a cheap guesthouse in town (130B for two double beds).

After a bit of dinner we met up with a South African guy named Adam and the three of us headed out to find a bar a Thai guy had told us about. After a bit of wandering, in the right direction, we found the place and it was rockin'. They had a live band playing and there was loads of people - and again we were left to fill the foreigner quotient.

After some Chang beer (gawd it's strong compared to the Chinese beer I've been drinking for the past 8 months) we got dancing and chatting to the locals. Freddy ended up leaving with some girl (whose name he learned later from a kindly left note on the nightstand is Noi). Adam and I, I've no clear memory how, started talking to the bartender and her friend and spent a few hours in random places around town chatting to them. I vaguely remember a motor-bike ride and sitting in a room in some apartment-type place. I only wish I had woken up in time yesterday to ask Adam what the hell happened and how I got home.

The Changover made for a slow start, but we managed to get some breakfast in before catching a ferry to Koh Chang. Oh, and I had a chance to call Maggie, which was great - though the $10 (350B) pricetag was a bit steep! Well worth it though... as much as I'm loving it here, I'm really getting eager to get back. I miss her loads.


Sand and sunsets - is there more to life?
Anyway. We're on the island now. The sea and beach and all of it is as beautiful as I remember. Today is a bit overcast and the sea is rough, but I think I'll post this and go for a swim. We met some friends yesterday and stayed out having drinks on the beach until about 12:30. Pretty battered from the night before, I turned in early, but Freddy is still MIA. Last I heard Noi was coming to visit today too... gawd travelling with him is interesting!

Oh - as it's like 2B/min on here (rather pricy) I will just wait until I get back either to Bangkok or to Dalian to sort out photos for all of this. Sorry.

All Thai'd Up

Khao San Rd.
So, as of about 9:30 p.m. last night I've made my return to Thailand.

It's been a year and a half since I've seen Rieng, Ree, Tee and Khak - but getting back to their home via a very curteous pick-up by Tee I realized that time has done little to kill my feelings about this place.

Even though I spent a little more than a week or two of total time in their home, it really did feel like a home-coming to things familiar.

Currently I'm in a guesthouse on Khao San Rd. killing time waiting for Freddy to return from his Thai massage. We've migrated to the city for the night so that we can take in the nightlife and not have to trek back to the suburbs where Rieng and fam live. However, the clouds have let loose and Bangkok is getting wetter by the moment.



Bangkok's Wat Po.
The plan for now is basically to hang in Bangkok until Tuesday, when we'll hop on a bus at the Easter Bus Station and head to the South Eastern most province of Trat. Here we can catch a ferry to Koh Chang, a large island about a 45 minute boat ride from the pier.

It was a bit of a toss up between Koh Chang and Koh Samet, but Chang won out with Rieng's claims that there is more to do there. The island has elephant treks, waterfalls, diving, hiking, and of course loads of sand and clear water.

We'll be staying on the island for about a week. I'm then planning to return to Bangkok for a couple days of final visiting with my Thai family before flying back to either Beijing or Dalian. I would prefer to fly to Dalian, but if the price is a lot more, I'll just take the train from Beijing.

I'm missing Maggie loads, but am trying not to let it get in the way of having a good time here. Why is it I can't seem to come to Thailand and not pine the whole time over some girl! Haha.

Maggie's been keeping me posted via e-mail on what's happening on the Jinzhou front. Her ex is still pestering her, but it's not escalated thankfully. She's finally had a chance to sit and chat to her folks about her and I and they are on board and support her decision, so it looks like I'll be meeting her 'rents when I return. I'm excited about it, but a little nervous at the same time. I'm comfortable in the knowledge that if I say anything wrong Maggie will just translate it into sounding wonderful

A note about languages. It's been a frustrating afair to go back to square one with not knowing the language here in Thailand. I mean, I am slowly remembering a little bit, but my Thai is no where near as confident or as useful as my Chinese and it's damn confusing. Everytime some tout comes up to me I kindly say 'bu yao xie xie...', he looks at me queerly and offers again. Even though my Chinese isn't phenomenal, I am beginning to see how useful it has become. Freddy and I were joking that we could speak Chinese and no one here will understand us. It's funny, but it's true. We're considering going down to China Town just to feel a little familiarity.

Ok... time to go get wet finding something to do. I've got loads of photos from Shanghai, but I think I'm just going to have to wait to put them up until I return to China, or perhaps if I can do something on Rieng's computer tomorrow ...


Freddy, the morning after a night in a Bangkok bar.

Shanghai'd!

The Bund - Day and Night.
We arrived in Shanghai (上海) yesterday at about noon and it's been full-on since.

After getting in the cab bound for Justin's place on Tuesday morning I learned that bringing my stuff to his abode was not such a hot idea due to the fact that Future School just informed him he had to move that day. So a quick call to my new school and my stuff is now scattered about Future 4 - but it's relatively safe. After that Maggie and I hit the bank and I set up my very own Chinese bank account. The process was surprisingly simple, but was made frustrating by the time it took to make it through the queue.

With that done we rushed to the supermarket and got some stuff for the train and arrived at the train station expecting to meet Vanessa and Freddy - however, they were noticably absent. So instead of spending the last 15 minutes saying goodbye to Maggie, I spent it running around the train station (大连火车站). I had given up on them, but with only 3 minutes to spare they came darting through the entrance and we rushed to the platform, with me apologizing to Maggie that I had to say goodbye so quickly along the way.

[1] What can I say, it has visual appeal. [2] More elevators should go with a bright jungle motif.
Anyway, we got here and have spent our time in good fashion, hitting The Bund first thing and then spending last night at a pretty hip night club. At 40-50 RMB per small bottle of beer I decided to stay sober (until I got back to the hostel) and the night was only mildly interesting. Clubs sort of lose their flavour if you're not in it to get with someone, or more often just hoping to get with someone.

At about 2 a.m. Vanessa and I left Freddy and Natalie (right, Natalie is not just staying at our hostel, she's in the bunk below mine!) and headed back to the hostel where we grabbed some cheap(er) beer and hung out with some people chillin' in the lounge. The night went later and later and I didn't hit my bunk until about 5 a.m. It made the 10 a.m. wake up a little difficult, and has put some lethargy in our day today. We had planned to do a load of things today, but really just got to shopping - however, we did that well and got loads of souviners - including nice silk(ish) robes for Freddy and I! haha.

We're heading out to find Beijing Roast Duck (北京烤鸭) as Vanessa's not had it and not going to Beijing. We are also going to try and hit a acrobat show and a jazz club tonight. I think it will be an early night tonight though, as I'm beat.

Fastest train in the world, baby!
Tomorrow I get to take the fastest train in the world. It runs from downtown to the Shanghai airport in about 7 minutes! I can't wait. Then it's off to Thailand. I find it hard to believe I'll be in Thailand in just a little over 24 hours.

Well, Vanessa just made it clear that it's not cool I'm spending a chunk of my last night in Shanghai sitting in the net bar (网吧), so ... out.

[1] Vanessa on the prowl for souviners. [2] One of three artists that insisted on drawing Freddy's portrait.