Friday 15 October 2010

Dalian, the Sydney of China

Yes, so I returned to Shenyang two days ago now, and can I say that it was the most productive holiday I've ever had. Brief itinerary: Arrived in Beijing last Thursday evening, spent two days in Beijing, travelled to Hohot on Saturday evening on a sleeper train. Arrived in Hohot (Inner Mongolia) Sunday morning, travelled to the grasslands then Bautou, spent Sunday evening and Monday in Bautou in the desert, then travelled back to Hohot Monday afternoon and spent the rest of the time there. Then Tuesday night we travelled back to Beijing, again via sleeper, and arrived Wednesday morning. Spent all WEdnesday and Thursday in Beijing and got back to Shenyang 10pm Thursday night. All ready to teach the next morning.

So anyway.......

Quickly, Dalian was beautiful. Three days there, reminded me a bit of Sydney. Clear skies, wider cleaner streets, just the whole scape was like home. Went to the beach one day, pebbles and windy and cold, but all the Scandinavians/other Europeans went swimming regardless. Emily and I just slept on the beach. Such a good three days. There's a photo on facebook of us all at the beach. Check it out sometime.
Beijing was awesome, like it always is. It felt familiar, kind of like returning home. Friday the 1st was national Day, and the crowd at Tiananmen Square was intense. We didn't quite make it to the parades in the morning, as the previous night was spent re uniting with other TTCers and the TTC staff in the expat bars. When we returned to our hostel, crowds were already streaming towards the square at 4am. Our hostel was 5 minutes down from the square, in one of the Hutongs. It was lovely btw, we had a ten bed dorm to ourselves as there were seven of us, and the breakfast was amazing. Anyway we managed to make it to the square about midday, and climbed all four stories of the gate. Walked around just absorbing the atmosphere and crowds, got our Chinese patriotism on. It was beautiful, there were so many flowers, and a water fountain and two huge screens displaying montages. The roads were closed off and Qianmen subway was closed for two days just because everyone converges on the square that day. Stll, quite an experience.

So yes then Inner Mongolia. Never seen such open sky in China. On the Sunday morning, after not much sleep on the train (I had the top bed in a three tier bunk) we travelled straight to the grasslands and rode horses for two hours. It was so freaking freezing, apparently 1 degree. Tyler and I almost died, but some were just in Tshirts just like, whatever this is what i do. Lunch was amazing though, they brought out a whole lamb, just sitting on the trolley (huge btw) piled it on the plates and just let us go wild with it. Never devoured so much lamb in my life. Travelled round the grasslands for a bit, then went to Bautou. Next day was spent in the desert, camel riding and doing general touristy desert activities, if you can imagine. It was actually really pretty, Tyler has photos which I can show you sometime. Then we returned to HOhot and spent the rest of the time there, doing Hohot things. The last evening before I train we pretty much just wandered the city, spent most of the time in the central square. Comes alive at night, there were flowers everywhere, people singing, playing instruments, balloons, kids in huge bubbles in the fountain, red lanterns which they were releasing into the sky. And that is Inner Mongolia.
(
Brief sidenote, it's now two days later- yesterday our school organised an excursion for the teachers because we had a day off. Went to Bengxi, two hours away, to see the mountains. The area is famous for its fung ye, all the leaves turn a brilliant red, before falling. It is amazing, next time anyone is in Liaoning province in qu tian (autumn) definitely need to check out Bengxi and the mountains. Smile, one of the teachers, home town is half an hour away, so she could tell us all about it.)
Next two days in Beijing, visited Temple of Heaven which is 300 hectares. Biggest green space in Bejing thus far. Next day we visited Beihai park, again huge, and spent the afternoon on a paddleboat on the lake before we had to catch the train. Made me miss Beijing and everyone who's there. But still good.

And yes that's my holiday. Back at school now, getting better. My two year olds are pretty much used to me now, I had a really good class this morning. It's Smile's class, they pick things really fast, although they're quite rowdy. Just had some of my four year olds ten minutes ago, they were not interested today, they started packing up my materials before i finished teaching and all said good bye. Slightly offended, but I think they just wanted a nap.

Molly

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