Quite possibly the ugliest couch ever..

Last weekend I was working at a university in Dalian when I discovered the couch in the room I had to work in all day. I can only imagine what was going through some one's head when they decided to take on this piece of furniture. It has the resistance of a log and it's slick, possibly finished in vinyl.

I might be crazy, but this building looks like it has problems

On my way to the gym this morning I noticed this building that appears to have some structural inconsistency. I'm no architect, but comparing the building on the right to it's twin on the left leads me to believe that it may have some serious problems. If you follow it from the bottom to the top and compare the amount of space between the two buildings as you get to the top you can see what I'm talking about. Well, I hope I'm wrong.

Recent travels

My longtime friend Dan (Pittsburgh) came for a two week stint in the ol' red country.
We had a great time traveling, eating, and attempting to deal with language/culture barriers. During his first week we hung low in Beijing because I still had to work for half of the week. The following week we headed out to Shanghai for four nights, then Hangzhou for two nights.

In Beijing, Dan and I (Luhan was working)hit up a few touristy things such as Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, and the Houhai shopping area. We managed to do a short trip out to the Great wall and it was amazingly quiet, probably because it was freezing. Interestingly enough, when you're on the top, there's no wind which makes it not nearly as cold as below. The following day we checked out Mao Zedong's pickled corpse and both had doubts about its legitimacy. This is all I can say about that.

I realize now how different it is traveling with another foreigner rather than Luhan. It creates a whole new set of circumstances or rather opportunities for people to try and sell us things we don't want and swindle us.

On Saturday we headed out to Shanghai via airplane. Dan and I were on our own for the first two days and I think we did fairly well. Shanghai is a lot different than Beijing. Traveling around the city is a bit easier as the city seems to be more of a tight knit. It also presents a whole new architectural style. I'm mainly referring to the old structures that can be compared to the downtown part of NYC and the old buildings in the French concession area with their European vibe. But, the modern buildings, I think far surpass the style of anything new being built in Beijing. To me, parts of Shanghai reminded me of an unkempt Tokyo with a layer of dust.

Finally, we took the fast train to Hangzhou which was about an hour and a half south. I heard so many good things about this city, so I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately it didn't live up to its reputation of being a quiet small little place. First off, the traffic was worse than Beijing. We sat in traffic for more than an hour on one occasion. Secondly, the area around the lake turned out to be a tourist trap with overpriced restaurants. The lake itself was really nice and we took a boat tour. On the last day we were there we decided to go out to this temple at the top of a mountain. It's called Ling Yin. This is easily the best temple I've been to in China, so far. It's spacious and not overflowing with tourists. There's a section of trails on the side of the mountain with Buddhas carved into the stone. And the temples themselves had a really different feel than any of the ones I've been to in Beijing. I highly recommend this place and it's reason enough to visit Hangzhou.

Hot Dogs!

Out in front of my apartment complex there's a strip of about five small businesses tucked away underneath the apartment buildings facing the street. There's an herbal store, a dumpling restaurant, and a few other knickknack shops. In the middle of it all is rather odd looking hot dog shop called "No More Bunz." What the god damn does that mean? I have no idea, so for quite a while I was stubborn and only eating Chinese food.

Finally, after two months or so contemplating this place I decided to give it a go (as the Brits would say). The fine little shop changed my life. In fact, the dogs weren't that expensive when it really came down to it and they're loaded with a choice of condiments.

They offer a standard dog (you know what this is) , Italian (Italian sausage), and German (Brat!). At this point, it's hard for me not to stop there after work. Fortunately they close really early.

Mao Zedong's wings

A little while back Luhan's father asked me if I liked airplanes. We were eating dinner and I had trouble deciding whether I did like airplanes or not. I guess airplanes are OK, so I said yes. Boy was he excited. Apparently he had been trying to get someone to go with him to this aviation museum a bit out of town. The next morning we were off.

We drove out with him and Luhan's mother to this old somewhat neglected museum. It was interesting because it was like someone decided to build it, perhaps in the 80's and then do absolutely nothing to maintain it.

There were two main sections. One was a gigantic space inside of a mountain. Lined up in rows were mainly dusty replications of all sorts of aircraft dating back to the Wright brothers. But the real gems lie out in an overgrown field amidst at least 25 real airplanes. Here I'm talking about Mao Zedong's personal fleet. The picture of me on the couch was taken inside one of his planes. Also, you can see Luhan on the stairs of the same plane. I wonder what Mao would think if he knew I was lounging on his couch? I'll ask the preserved man when I make it out to visit him.

I also found a plane with a description beside it explaining that it shot down an American plane. That gave me a strange sort of feeling and I kicked it. Just kidding.

I'm still not sure how I feel about airplanes, but it sure was cloudy that day.

Mad man in neighborhood

So, this morning I awoke to find this posted to the apartment building beside ours. At first I thought it was an ad of some sort, but now that I'm fluent in Mandarin I read the text below. Ok, Luhan read the text. Apparently, this man (image I'm assuming came from a security camera) has robbed a few people at knifepoint. More specifically, his victims have all been foreigners.

I really didn't think this kind of nonsense happened in Beijing, but of course, I'm nieve. His attacks actually happened a few subway stops away from us, which is pretty far to be posting signs in our neighborhood, but I guess the community gets pretty fired up when someone is at large.

The sign warns that the victim should hand over his loot as the man has already stabbed a russian refusing give in.

As you can see, this is about as exciting as it gets these days. I'm working a ton and ready for a break. Luhan will be in NYC, Florida and San Francisco over the next week mainly to attend a wedding, but sounds more to me like a vacation.

Food for thought

I'm slowly realizing that I should keep a running tally of snacks that I find, photograph them and post them all in one shebang. But, I guess I'm just not that slick of a blogger. I know there are a few readers who appreciate learning about Chinese snacks and checking out their packaging. So, I'll keep it coming.

These are Spicy Duck Necks. From the same brand I also found Spicy Chicken Claws, but I was in a hurry and didn't snap a pic.