New Year Fireworks at Xinghai Square

The fireworks at Xinghai Square was spectacular. It lasted about 45 minutes. It was a cold night but there must have been about 100,000 people at the Xinghai park watching the fireworks.

Traffic in Dalian

Cold or warm, i see these police women in front of the Renmin Square every day to and from work. This is the only place where I see policewoman to direct the traffic in and out of the government building. The picture show the police woman stand on the pedestal in the middle of the street. Apparently, the RPC government want to show the people that there are women rights in this country.

Drivers here are just driving crazy. They do not follow the traffic law at all. I took the pictures from the taxi I was riding in. Amazingly, I have not seen any traffic accident yet. Also, it seems that I always make it back to the apartment everynight just fine (within 30 minutes). That's pretty good for rush hour traffic.

Getting ready for the Chinese Luna New Year

This week is the official China national holidays. I am working from the hotel because the people are taking the next 2 weeks off. One of the guys from work met me at the apartment and we headed to the Victory Plaza where the Dalian Market is located. The local farmers tried to get ready for their new year too. They brought in all kinds of stuffs ranging from vegetables, meat and livestocks to the market hall to sell. I saw some live pigs, hens, chickens, ducks and I also saw some pigheads, dead ducks, chickens, and geese.

I don't think I can get any of these items through the airport custom !

Xanghai Square

I made it through the 2nd week in Dalian. The weather is still cold and windy. Actually, the people here is telling me that they don't leave their heavy coat at home until the first week in April. This will be a long winter for me and I am counting the days and weeks to March. I brought three coats with me from the US and none of them can handle this type of weather. I should have brought the Cowboys jacket with the hood. And I wish I had brought with me a scarf and a knitted hat of some kind. Oh well!

I normally eat lunch at the IBM campus but this week, a couple of IBM colleagues wanted to take me to the local restaurants for the local dishes. I really like the "hot pots" dish. Each of us get our own pot at the table and dip vegies, different types of meats and seafood. I have seen similar dishes in chinatown but this one is quite unique. They also really like mouton (sheep) meat.

We visited Xinghai square after lunch one day this week and it's really a nice tourist attraction. I can imagine what it would be like during the warmer months. They really are proud of their squares here especially Xinghai. They kept saying that this Xinghai square is the largest square in eastern Asia and that would include the Tiananmen square in Beijing. Because of the deadly wind, we were able to walk around briefly to take some pictures (you probably can tell from the pictures as the wind was blowing from the Yellow Sea).

My 1st week in Dalian (Jan 11-17)

After over 33 years living in the US, I made a long trip to Dalian, China to work. The enroute trip took about 32 hours -- including 14 hours direct flight from DFW to Narita (JP) which was not too bad; an overnight stay at the Excel Narita Hotel and a 3 hours flight from Narita to Dalian the next morning. It was an unusual trip for me. Even though I knew that nothing that I should be worrying about, there was an element of fear and apprehension for the entire trip.

Gale (a friend from church) and I connected at the Excel hotel in and we decided to head to downtown Narita for dinner at a small but famous noodle place. Apparently, it is the regular gathering for many airlines' flight crews. It was just a short walking distance from the nearby Keisei Narita train station but I might have forgot how to get there. It was bitterly cold that night and windy too and I just did not pay a very good attention. I will have to ask Gale for a written direction the next time I see her.

I boarded the plane for Dalian the next morning and upon arrival, from the crowd of people waiting at the gate, my IBM contact spotted me right away. Dalian airport is fairly large and on this Sunday there were so many people there outside the terminal. I was so glad that I did not have to worry about the transportation to the apartment. For the entire week, I was picked up and dropped off by the company driver at the apartment. At work, signs posted around the IBM Dalian site to welcome me to the location and it really made me feel quite welcomed!

It was more than I ever expected!