Schwarzbrot... Schwaaaarzbrooooot...
That holiday kind of knocked me for six. Even though I didn't leave the city, I ended up being quite busy. I was pretty stroppy by last Saturday when I wrote this:
I'm tired, so I'd like rid of the pop music, and I want some German rye bread and Irish cheddar cheese and a cheese-slice. And I want to be invisible for a little while. And I'm not Russian. "I was sure you were Russian, Russian girls are always so slim and pretty," is a new one on me. Wow, I'd really love some Schwarzbrot.
Today I went with some Edinburgh classmates to Lushun, a port town which is only fifty minutes south of us by bus but is a different world. It wasn't nice, but it was interesting. I learnt how to put my foot down with taxi drivers who are desperate to drive you around all day when you just want to get from A to nearby B, and also how to be followed around by taxi drivers while exploring barren Qing dynasty clifftop ammunition bases which, according to subsequent taxi drivers, are not supposed to let foreigners in anyway, and no-one seems to agree about what the whole foreigner situation is.
When we'd finished looking at a fort where Li Hongzhang once kept his weapons, we went back to the town and had some chaomian. I was getting unhappy by this stage. Arguing even very mildly with taxi drivers isn't fun. The amount of staring we were attracting was also impressive. Luckily I looked up at one point and saw the young man with the van. He was extraordinary because he was smiling, and he didn't move a muscle while I took his photo.
There was a haggard man with a huge beard sitting on a small stool near us, shaking three coins on the ground and making notes in a notebook. I was curious, since he wasn't telling any customer's fortune, so what was he consulting the oracle about? I went over and said, 'are you using the Book of Changes?' and he nodded, and I said 'what are you asking?' and he said he was asking about football results between Scotland and some upcoming opponent. In fact that was the first of a whole list of games he'd written down. I said 'have you won a lot of money this way?' and he said no.
Then I'd had enough so we went back to Dalian. We spent the afternoon at the big Ocean World near Xinghai Park. It's snazzy and houses fish, seals, turtles and dolphins, and there's a water-based spectacle including a Russian mermaid and some fabulous dolphins, who are blatantly smarter than humans. Beyond that it's freestyle surreal, e.g.: "Shark Island: Shark hobbyhorse, shark piano, shark swing and shark island will bring you to experience the live delight of childhood and store up a happy and everlasting twinkling." I'm still not sure I didn't dream parts of it, like the room that was called Havana Avenue but was mostly glittery tiles, a Wild West-themed target-shooting game (featuring a pink stove with pig's ears), popcorn and squid-on-stick sellers, and behind them a photo of four men in suits with goats' heads. At every point strange things were being sold, from a reading-light in the shape of a dolphin that hung on the wearer's ear, to a T-shirt saying "[lips] me, I'm Irish". 总之, it was cool.
Outside the labyrinth it was no less surreal. Some little girls were playing in giant hamster balls floating on a paddling pool of water. With no friction, every step they took sent them flat on their faces again inside their bubbles, which must have been getting stuffy. They looked completely bemused.
I'm tired, so I'd like rid of the pop music, and I want some German rye bread and Irish cheddar cheese and a cheese-slice. And I want to be invisible for a little while. And I'm not Russian. "I was sure you were Russian, Russian girls are always so slim and pretty," is a new one on me. Wow, I'd really love some Schwarzbrot.
Today I went with some Edinburgh classmates to Lushun, a port town which is only fifty minutes south of us by bus but is a different world. It wasn't nice, but it was interesting. I learnt how to put my foot down with taxi drivers who are desperate to drive you around all day when you just want to get from A to nearby B, and also how to be followed around by taxi drivers while exploring barren Qing dynasty clifftop ammunition bases which, according to subsequent taxi drivers, are not supposed to let foreigners in anyway, and no-one seems to agree about what the whole foreigner situation is.
When we'd finished looking at a fort where Li Hongzhang once kept his weapons, we went back to the town and had some chaomian. I was getting unhappy by this stage. Arguing even very mildly with taxi drivers isn't fun. The amount of staring we were attracting was also impressive. Luckily I looked up at one point and saw the young man with the van. He was extraordinary because he was smiling, and he didn't move a muscle while I took his photo.
There was a haggard man with a huge beard sitting on a small stool near us, shaking three coins on the ground and making notes in a notebook. I was curious, since he wasn't telling any customer's fortune, so what was he consulting the oracle about? I went over and said, 'are you using the Book of Changes?' and he nodded, and I said 'what are you asking?' and he said he was asking about football results between Scotland and some upcoming opponent. In fact that was the first of a whole list of games he'd written down. I said 'have you won a lot of money this way?' and he said no.
Then I'd had enough so we went back to Dalian. We spent the afternoon at the big Ocean World near Xinghai Park. It's snazzy and houses fish, seals, turtles and dolphins, and there's a water-based spectacle including a Russian mermaid and some fabulous dolphins, who are blatantly smarter than humans. Beyond that it's freestyle surreal, e.g.: "Shark Island: Shark hobbyhorse, shark piano, shark swing and shark island will bring you to experience the live delight of childhood and store up a happy and everlasting twinkling." I'm still not sure I didn't dream parts of it, like the room that was called Havana Avenue but was mostly glittery tiles, a Wild West-themed target-shooting game (featuring a pink stove with pig's ears), popcorn and squid-on-stick sellers, and behind them a photo of four men in suits with goats' heads. At every point strange things were being sold, from a reading-light in the shape of a dolphin that hung on the wearer's ear, to a T-shirt saying "[lips] me, I'm Irish". 总之, it was cool.
Outside the labyrinth it was no less surreal. Some little girls were playing in giant hamster balls floating on a paddling pool of water. With no friction, every step they took sent them flat on their faces again inside their bubbles, which must have been getting stuffy. They looked completely bemused.
