the vacation came as a great relief to me as i had been in tongliao for two months and had not left its confines since i got here. for those of you that know me, you know that i don't sit still in one place for very long and thus this momentary captivity leant to an almost claustrophobic sentiment on my part. the promise of sand and sun helped me get through that week prior to setting off for dalian. bleary-eyed, yet hopeful, myself along with a few of my other foreign counterparts boarded the train at 6:30 in the a.m. and prepared for our 12 hour journey to the coast. i, of course, passed out as soon as we got on the train and awoke a few hours later to two small beady eyes staring at me from the opposite bunk. as my eyes struggled to focus, i realized that it was a small child lying on his stomach just staring at me. i was taken aback at first, but then gave him the customary and requisite "ni hao ma?" (sort of "what's up?") and he just giggled. i obviously had gotten the tone incorrect or maybe i had some drool streaming down my chin . . . either way, this was the beginning of another train inspired friendship with a chinese child. i have about 32 pictures of just the two of us playing with my camera and him spitting at me and trying to eat my fingers, but i will spare you. the following picture is the best out of any of them. "le la" as his mother called him was very interested in my ipod - in the following picture he is listening to it. well the train ride progressed throughout the day and into the evening much the same. we listened to music, drew pictures, and drove his mother crazy . . . ahh, to be a child again.
well that night we were required to celebrate mike's birthday in the only fashion we saw fit (i.e. find some random bar and drink and dance the night away). the night began with little success and i soon began to worry that our plans would be dashed, but after walking for some time we found a place called "sky bar". it was already past 10 p.m. when most of china closes up (or at least in our experience with tongliao) and this bar was still raging, so we entered. smoke, lights, loud music, and the sight of western skin flashed before my eyes. it took me a little while to realize that i was still in china. there were tourists everywhere and nary a chinese person anywhere to be seen. the small dance floor in the middle of the bar held 4 black-clad dancers singing every song that came on and trying to get people to come up and dance. the music was familiar, the staff all spoke english, the drinks were international. i could hardly believe it. well the rest of the night is history . . . at least at that bar. after finishing a bottle of jack daniel's between us all, the voice of the night called to us once more. we walked out of "sky bar" one tambourine heavier and found another bar called "alice bar". at this point it was already 1 or 2 a.m. this bar proved to be a glamorized karaoke bar which we stayed at until 4 or so in the morning. singing and dancing among a large german man and his harem of prostitutes, this bar ended our first night in dalian.
the next morning a few of us decided to make a trek to the beach after a highly disappointing breakfast/lunch (i will have to say that the chinese food in tongliao is much better than dalian - or at least where we ate there). just an aside since i am talking about food, i did try some of the culinary delights of dalian which included everything from seahorses, scorpions, and squid to caterpillars, crab, and mealworms all on a stick. the picture below shows just a smattering of the buffet i was confronted with on the streets of dalian. okay, now back to . . . the cab ride to the beach revealed some of the most beautiful scenery i have ever seen. the driver drove through a large park that surrounded the beach which included green grass (as opposed to brown grass in tongliao), tall trees (as opposed to near dead trees in tongliao), flowers of all colors (as opposed to no flowers in tongliao), and even hills (as opposed to the monotonous flatness of tongliao). the rest of the day was spent sunbathing, sweating out all of the garlic, pepper, and oil that had inhabited my body since i arrived in china, and swimming in the water. it was exactly what i needed. despite the fat chinese men, the strangely unattractive russians, a huge pile of trash just sitting on the sand, and a naked baby that ran around screaming the ENTIRE day, the beach was beautiful and relaxing. perfection (chinese style, of course).
well that night, feeling relaxed as it was, pat, mike, and i decided to make a little trip to the all night bath house for a massage. we weren't really aware what was in store for us . . . we walked in paid for the treatment that was not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. we were escorted into a locker room, told to strip, and then walk into a shower room to rinse off. we obediently followed. after the shower we were exfoliated by a man with a towel. lying naked on a table in front of many other people, the guy exfoliated one's ENTIRE body. this includes places that i didn't even know needed to be exfoliated. well, sleek and smooth, we then were instructed to don some see-through little pajama things and go upstairs to get the massage. mounting the stairs with a number of women just sitting around waiting for their next client, i began to question the exact nature of this bathhouse. not one to challenge culture, though, i followed my masseuse into a private room. the entire massage was completely professional (to my relief . . . and disappointment ;) ) and very rejuvenating. walking out after the hour limit, i felt the cleanest and most relaxed since i had come to china. well, on the way back to the hotel we exchanged stories about our respective massages and mike's proved to be anything but professional. let's just say that she was trying to massage other parts of his body not customarily dealt with by a masseuse. his pleads of "bu yao, xie xie" ("i don't want it, thank you") went unheard at first until it became clear to her that he was not going to have any of it. pat and i of course found this very amusing and proceeded to share it with the rest of the group. and it happened to mike of all people!!
the rest of the trip provided me with more of the same relaxation. after a few days of sun, massages, the purchase of stolen designer clothing, and hot showers, i headed back to tongliao with the sun at my back and the smell of autumn (and sewage - just to remind me we are still in china) in my nose.
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