tbaroundtheworld

Took this the other night at the seaside park in Kai Fa Qu. Had to wait to get home to publish it, Youtube is banned on the far side and trying to do it via DSL and my VPN was too slow. So here it is, The Dailan Fan Dance. Enjoy!

So I find myself on the road once again, heading home to wrap up some work before heading back here for the meat of my assignment. This year has been very different than last, I'm not living in airports like I was and trips have gone back to being special instead of my regular fare. In the spirit of the mercurial nature of Dalian traffic, I allowed 2+ hours for the trip to the gate and check in. You never know here, the last time I went out I barely made it through the luggage check, the crowds were that deep. I figured I had nothing better to do and so planned to sit at the airport if necessary. This morning was crystal clear as it is on some days before the automobile traffic picks up. Perhaps the power plants have been off line for a couple of days, because we've had a short string of mornings and evenings that have a clear view of the ocean, and in today's case, Dalian city proper. I had dinner with friends last night and on my walk down my newly found special street I ...

Most of my compatriots have opted to undergo the rabies vaccination that is suggested by our health organization. I’ve chosen not to, mostly because the vaccine almost killed one of our dogs once and also because I think it’s a waste of time and money. As a preventative, you get three shots; if an animal draws blood, you get five. And the rush to the hospital to get them only has to happen within seven days. I decided sometime back that Hepatitis, Japanese Encephalitis and Typhus vaccinations were plenty. This means though that you have to be on your guard around dogs and that in turn often means we make a lot of jokes about being attacked, an attack that would take the form of having your ankle bitten by the standard Chinese dog that’s 6 inches high at the withers. Last Sunday I had that run-in with the rat dog in the park. Not much of a run-in and not much of a dog. But for a moment when he pulled himself up to his full size I was slightly concerned. I got over it. This morning when ...

Well it annoys me. I spent the better part of the day sitting in my office eating cookies. The first were some chocolate sandwich cookies that looked interesting but ended up being some sort of salt free Ritz Cracker with a relatively flavorless fudge filling. Having been let down by those I went back down to the convenience store and went for the hard stuff – Chinese chocolate-filled Oreos. No fooling around anymore. I didn’t think there was much potential for a story today but as always, things come along to make the day more interesting than it initially promised. Aside from the cookies, work was work. I made a little more headway buying down my meal card with four bottles of water and six more Dove bars (plus the aforementioned pastries) but I’m still looking at a solid $20 left to go. More water and more chocolate tomorrow, my last day in the office before I head back to the US. The trips to and from work today were brightened by my conversations with Mr. Jiang. On the morning rou...

When I returned from my bike outing and recovered from my strenuous ride up the elevator I decided to call My Lovely Wife. We were having a nice catch-up conversation when all hell broke loose – a wedding across the street at the Inn Fine. The event brought to mind a story that a friend told me about being on the phone with a help desk person when some Chinese New Year's fireworks kicked off – the help desk person was so shocked by the explosions that they asked if my friend was in a war zone. That anecdote pretty much sums it up – fireworks in China are the bane of a sane existence. Wondering about the racket I got up and looked out the window - the bride and groom were in a white stretch Lincoln limousine, the videographer was leading in a red convertible and blocking the rest of Jin Ma Lu were the 10 or 15 black sedans forming the wedding party. Traffic was backed up for blocks while the procession sat and waited for the fireworks to scare off the evil spirits. My Lovely Wife to...