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prrrrl


131 Blog Entries
9 Trips
80 Photos

Trips:

Liaoning, 2013
Beijing I, 2012
Yunnan, China
Philippines!
China 2009
Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
Beijing 2015
Beijing 2011
Beijing 2012 II

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/prrrrl




Get a whiff of...

Beijing, China


Lights back on! Yea!!

Men and smokers don't think their jackets need washing. They are everyone-else-is-plugging-their-noses wrong. I once sat behind a young man at the ballet in Raleigh Fanning my face constantly to dispel his outerwear's rankness. At the hostel I'm currently at, I complained at the front desk that the room smelled. I was wrong. The British-sounding Chinese man's clothes reeked. He said he was moving out the next day and I was looking forward to the smell's departure. His English is like my Chinese - we sound better than we comprehend. He did indeed move out though when I ran into him in the lobby the next morning he said he was staying. I thought he meant that he was staying somewhere else (as in different city) for the next week which would match our first conversation (pre smell diagnosis) that he was heading out of town for the Chinese holiday. Well, he's back (it's been one day). I enjoy talking to him but I sure hope he's staying in a different room!

Jan

permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Cigarettes, Smell and Jacket

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Get a whiff of...

Beijing, China


Lights back on! Yea!!

Men and smokers don't think their jackets need washing. They are everyone-else-is-plugging-their-noses wrong. I once sat behind a young man at the ballet in Raleigh Fanning my face constantly to dispel his outerwear's rankness. At the hostel I'm currently at, I complained at the front desk that the room smelled. I was wrong. The British-sounding Chinese man's clothes reeked. He said he was moving out the next day and I was looking forward to the smell's departure. His English is like my Chinese - we sound better than we comprehend. He did indeed move out though when I ran into him in the lobby the next morning he said he was staying. I thought he meant that he was staying somewhere else (as in different city) for the next week which would match our first conversation (pre smell diagnosis) that he was heading out of town for the Chinese holiday. Well, he's back (it's been one day). I enjoy talking to him but I sure hope he's staying in a different room!

Jan

permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Cigarettes, Smell and Jacket

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Darkness

Beijing, China


Today is their National Day, their 'Fourth of July'. Yet I got lots of work done visiting 3 vendors and picking up longer pants from the tailor. But I just returned to the hostel and there is no electricity to my room. This leaves all six residents in the dark. And it's their National Day - electricians are not working! The desk clerk can call the manager. But can the manager call a repair person? Doubtful. I asked for a flashlight and they quickly obliged. Could be an interesting evening!


permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Dark, FlashLight and NationalHoliday

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Fossils!

Chaoyang, China


We made it! After first heading to the bus station to buy tickets out of town (next day, as the last bus would not allow sufficient time to see the fossil museum necessitating an over-night in a city we were told we could not over-night) we hired a pedicab (no longer an applicable name as they are all electric or gas now) to get us to bus 15, the vehicle that can take us to... FOSSILS!!! The pedicab takes back to the train station. We thought that was fine until we learned that bus 15 does not pass by the train station. A very kind chaoyang-ian says she'll ride (a different bus) with us and take us to the correct bus stop. That's why I love the Chinese! A long city bus ride later she points us to the unmarked bus stop. We get off and wait. It takes a while but Bus 15 finally comes and we make it to fossil paradise!

But we don't have same day tickets out of town and we don't have a place to stay in this foreigner-forbidden city. What to do? I had a plan all along. At the ticket counter I tell the 5 ladies behind the counter (and only me and RJ in front - read that, "almost no visitors, way over staffed") that we need a hotel for they evening. Sure enough, these very helpful ladies call around and find us two, TWO!, hotels that will take 'outsiders.' One one cheap and near the train station, one is expensive and not. To the great Surprise of all who know me well, I chose the latter. 'Near the train station' is code for filthy. Read the next post for how the day ended!

permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Chaoyang, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Plans, Fossils and Botel

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Dig it!

Chaoyang, China


Fossil blog
The Bird Flower-rock (fossil) National Geological Park is 60% kitsch, 30% awesome. They have the actual pit where some of the first fossils were found. They have a long, deep trench showing the sediment layers. This is not open air but in a modern building resembling an ankylosaurus. They have a museum showing scores of fossils pulled from the site, including a turtle visitors can touch, the famous feathered Dinosaur and a specially lit main feature: two small Dinosaurs caught in the act of creating new little Dinosaurs. The hokey parts are the animatronic T-Rex and others since the animatronics is hokey and these Dinosaurs were not found in Liaoning. The petrified Forest is disappointing in how pieces were poorly glued together in columns of their original growth. I'd prefer to see them the way they were found. Also very hokey is the fake and unimpressive in size Volcano.
But still worth the trip for the fossils, dig site and trench. Ahhhh...


permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Chaoyang, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Turtle, Trench, Fossils and CaughtInTheAct

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Hot Lap of Luxury

Chaoyang, China


Guilded lions outside, huge elaborate lobby modeled after French aristocracies of the 17/18th centuries, shiny everything! And only 499 ren min bi per night ($80).

The room had the usual western amenities of soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion (but in an embossed leather box), a blow dryer, big screen TV, iron and board, not free mini bar and plush towels, and the Chinese amenities of slippers and an electric kettle. But it also had a safe, a mini fridge, two bathrobes, a scale, wall panel push button bed lamps, wall panel push button nightstand lights, wall panel push button vanity light, wall panel push button over toilet light (which never turned off), wall panel push button do not disturb light, wall panel push button entry light, wall panel push button shade over the jacuzzi up or down (there being a huge window between the bathroom and the main room a shade comes in handy) and two full-face gas masks. Did I mention jacuzzi? Oh, you were focused on the gas masks. Yes, we found that odd, too.

For all this luxury there was one little flaw and one huge flaw: big, ugly stain on the carpet and the AC did not work. Hands down the fanciest place I've ever stayed but no AC?

permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Chaoyang, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Luxury, PushButton and GasMasks

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Breakfast Bonanza!

Beijing, China


It's so popular I can't get any service. It's a breakfast restaurant with indoor seating, hard to find, and it serves many more breakfast options than most. Usually a breakfast place offers only a few things. This places serves fried sticks (a fave of my kids but an unsweetened greasy donut does not appeal to me), tofu soup (another that does not suite my taste buds), stuffed buns (too doughy), dumplings (yum!), millet porridge (bland but not objectionable), pickled radish (okay in tiny amounts), tea eggs (I've eaten lots of these this trip), tofu jelly with sauce (the Beijing smokey flavor I try to avoid) and wonton soup (great breakfast with lots of little shrimp eyes looking up at you before you eat them). I've written (hunt & peck) most of this after ordering twice and before receiving any food. That's busy!


permalink written by  prrrrl on October 2, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
tagged Choices, Busy and SitDown

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Timing

Beijing, China


Raining! They seeded the clouds too late. Usually they engineer a bright sunny day for Oct. 1. (By mid-afternoon it was beautiful out.)


permalink written by  prrrrl on October 1, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Rain, NationalDay and SeedingClouds

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Timing

Beijing, China


Raining! They seeded the clouds too late. Usually they engineer a bright sunny day for Oct. 1. (By mid-afternoon it was beautiful out.)


permalink written by  prrrrl on October 1, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Rain, NationalDay and SeedingClouds

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Argh!

Beijing, China


The tall building has three elevators but today only one is working. It's on the eighth floor. I wait for it to descend. The doors open and I see three people, one with a dolly of boxes, one just standing there and one on a full size motorcycle. I back up to let the motorcycle back out but when he's clear the door closes without me on! The sole elevator then goes all the up to the 32 floor giving me time to hunt and peck this message! Argh!

permalink written by  prrrrl on October 1, 2013 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Liaoning, 2013
tagged Motorcycle, Elevator and Frustration

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