I took a weekend trip from Beijing to Dalian leaving Friday night and returning to Beijing on Saturday morning.
The two nights sleeping on the train (sleepers) turned out to be a lot more beneficial considering the train beds are much softer than the one I have in the dorms! The sleep wasn’t too bad because my bunk cubical for 6 didn’t have any extreme snorers or babies crying. The problem with the bunk bed would probably be that it’s much too narrow (roughly three A4 widths – refer to photo below), obviously they don’t cater for fat Chinese people…

A weekend isn’t enough to really see what Dalian is all about, but it seems that my tour guide easily covered the non-nature-related-attractions … within one day!
I quite like living in a city, always bustling with people and being able to always have or find something to do. But when a city gets as big as Beijing, the magic just fades after a while. A city like Dalian reminds me a lot more of Perth;
- Big town turned small city

- limited places to visit


- Shops close too early

- The ocean and…

- it’s own uniqueness (randomness)!


How can you not love it?? =P
Don’t get me wrong, I think that Beijing isn’t too fantastic even though I love it here, I just don’t like the fact that staying here has made me lose interest in the culture as well as damaging to my health. Beijing is just getting less and less mysterious as each layer of paint goes on.
All for the preparation of the 2008 Olympics Games of course!

Anyhow, the stay in Dalian was a fantastic mini adventure, and it’s probably the only city in all of China I’ve beaten my mum to =P wOOt!
The train ride back to Beijing was a little more entertaining than the ride to Dalian because there was a WHITE person in my carriage! Most China people completely ignore me because I blend in well as a typical “China girl”, but when I struck up a conversation with my fellow English speaking friend, it was hard not to see those blatant stares.
So come Monday morning, after my hike from Beijing Central Station to Wudaokou (BLCU), the first thing that greets me back in my dorm room is my fishy friend looking VERY dead. I suspect Jinjin and Heihei had another one of their head-butting rounds which of course Jinjin, the one that eats the most, came out on top.
aHhh well, it was bound to happen sooner than later…