DaLian (II) Ocean and Forest

A day for the animals…

LaoHuTan (老虎滩) Ocean Park

…is located at the souther coast of DaLian, reachable by bus. And you know what? For that direction my hotel is located perfectly! 😉 There is just some confusion on the bus stop names which led me to run into the wrong direction first until asking for directions. In case you wanna find it: Take bus number 2 or 403 and get off after seeing a huge colorful fun-park entry in a left-turn, one stop before LaoHuTan. That colorful park entry is the right one. There are lots of ticket options, but explained in detail. Don’t take any option below 160 RMB…yea…it is expensive, but you absolutely have to see the Pole Aquarium, which alone is 120 RMB.
Continue reading DaLian (II) Ocean and Forest

DaLian (I) City Center

DaLian – 大连

After a Chinese breakfast at the hotel I got by bus down into the city. The first day I wanted to explore the sights and shopping places of DaLian downtown. Knowing that it would probably not require an entire day I did everything slow-motion, with various breaks in cafes or parks.

It seems that due to my unplanned early arrival DaLian was yesterday not yet prepared for me and had covered everything in thick fog. Today, however, it showed itself off in bright sun shine, which could at times even get a bit too hot. But in shadow with a light breeze it was very fine weather. Continue reading DaLian (I) City Center

YanTai (I) what a cool hotel…location

YanTai – 烟台

Before talking about YanTai we have to get there… At the morning I was still in QingDao. And I got up a bit “late”, comparing to my previous days: At 8am only. That was partly due to a longer evening in the hostel’s bar. As I had done my homework already in the evening at the SPR Coffee I could upon returning to the hostel just grab a beer and join some other backpackers at the large table. I was probably the one with the best Chinese knowledge, and my LaoShan experience on that very day could even serve a Spanish, who wanted to do the trip today. (Although I doubt he did…when I finally left the hostel he was still nibbling his breakfast-fruit-salat, at a time I was already well under way to LaoShan the day before.) But all other people, 3 different groups in total, where all at the end of their multi-month-long travel. One UK couple travelled no less than 16 months in one go! Now guys, no complains any longer about my 3 months, please! 😉 Continue reading YanTai (I) what a cool hotel…location

QingDao (III) Lao Shan

Update 30-DEC-2007: I found a way of transferring pictures from my mobile phone to my laptop…sending them via EMail, which is possible in my Vodafone home network in Germany. I did make 4 photos with my mobile phone on the mountain, hoping to find some kind of way of accessing them somewhen later (camera has no memory card). No great quality and 640×480 only, but better than no pics at all. The assigned timestamps are correct, the mobile phone did not add EXIF data, but stored the timestamp in its directory data. I put the four photos into the article below, timestamps between QD_20070605_094800 and 105300.

Lao Shan – 崂山

Can you believe it? I forgot my camera today! Continue reading QingDao (III) Lao Shan

QingDao (II) The nice places

I survived the night OK. The bed is hard as wood as usual in China, but I like it that way. The first 2 people got up early, around 6, likely to catch some bus or train as they were taking all their belongings with them. They tried hard to make as little noise as possible. I got only annoying once the German got a phone call at 7 in the morning and had no issue with talking normal voice for some 10 – 15 minutes. As he spoke German I was even forced to understand. He is still unaware that I am German, too, but I doubt that would have made any difference. Afterwards I decided I could not sleep any longer and got up. Hence, fairly early for my habits at 07:30 or so. Has the advantage of having more time for sightseeing. Continue reading QingDao (II) The nice places

FAQ

For those not familiar with computer terms: FAQ stands for “Frequently Asked Questions”, a collections of questions often asked about certain topics like how to use software or hardware. And ideally accompanied by an answer. Then sometimes also called Q&A, meaning “Questions & Answers”. I selected FAQ for good reasons: I don’t always have answers to some of those questions I have often been asked in the recent weeks. Let me try it anyway: Continue reading FAQ