tbaroundtheworld

It was with stiff legs and a depleted spirit that I went down the lift to meet James for my Sunday adventure. I’d thought seriously about cancelling this trip to the famous temple – too tired from Saturday night – but I knew this was a big event for him and there was still the matter of the 100 pounds of rice and flour sitting in the trunk that he had picked up at his expense. I had tried to offer some financial help, but the translation was lacking and his response made the miss in communication evident, “Don’t worry Terry, they will think the gifts are from both of us.” In my last blog I didn’t give the whole tale from Saturday, leaving off yesterday’s story with the drive back. But there was more, and those events were partially the reason for my general lack of energy and motivation on this particular morning. After reaching Kai Fa Qu, it was decided that we would all go on to Dalian to have Sichuan Hot Pot. I thought I understood the whole hot pot idea, but it turns out I was wron...

It’s pretty much a primary rite of passage for American expats to make the trip up the peninsula to Dandong, China’s primary port of entry with North Korea. What could possibly be more interesting than standing on the north side of the Yalu and staring into that land of utter desolation? In order to meet this most basic of needs, three of us joined James for the 2 hour spin up the Dandong Expressway on Saturday morning. Did any of you know that the names of expressways in China are a concatenation of the first couple of letters of the names of the terminating cities? We were riding on the Danda Highway – Dan(dong) and Da(lian), get it? We rolled out around 8 and after an Americano stop at Starbucks we drove across Kai Fa Qu to get on the toll road. The air was pretty clear, probably due to the rather stiff wind. A good breeze has the effect of blowing the wood smoke out of the valleys, and today the early light was crisp and clear. We passed hundreds of greenhouses, most with the grass...