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Weather of today:
- Day: 28 degrees and a bit cloudy.
-Night: 21 degrees.
Sentence of today:
I would like to give you a little gift to say my thanks for your hospitality:
我想给您一份小礼物,以感谢您的招待。
Today's - Good to know:
Taxis (出租汽车: chūzūqìchē) are cheap, plentiful and easy to find. Congregation points include train and long-distance bus stations.
Taxi drivers rarely speak any English so have your destination written down in characters.
To use the same driver again, ask for his card (名: míngpiàn). Taxis can be hired for a single trip or on a daily basis. Taxi rates per kilometre are clearly marked on a sticker on the rear side window of the taxi; flag fall varies from city to city, and also depends upon the size and quality of the vehicle. Most taxis have meters but they may only be switched on in larger towns and cities. If the meter is not used (on an excursion out of town, for example), negotiate a price before you set off and write the fare down. If you want the meter used, ask for (打表: dǎbiǎo). Ask for receipt (发票: fāpiào) if you leave something in the taxi, the taxi number is printed on the receipt so it can be located.
Todays tip:
Girls will get funny looks if they wear low-cut tops, mini-skirts, on the other hand, are completely acceptable.
Dish of today:
Shrimps with cucumber.
Today's Historical fact:
The Dalian Oil Disaster:
It was the worst oil spill in Chinese history. On 16 July 2010, two pipelines in the Xingang oil terminal burst as high-sulphur crude was being unloaded from an oil tanker. A fire raged for 15hours and untold barrels of oil leaked into the Yellow Sea. Within days officials had acknowledged that over 400 sq km of ocean had been affected.
The Dalian refinery is one of China's largest, but like most (if not all) it had no contingency planning to deal with such a serious emergency. City officials, quickly realising they were incapable of handling the disaster on their own, started offering volunteers US$44 for every barrel of oil they recovered from the sea. That was all that was needed to unleash the entrepreneurial valour of the Chinese. Within three weeks 8000 workers in 800 fishing boats (with the help of a few specialist clean-up vessels) had removed almost all traces of the spill.
Small fortunes were made, but volunteers were lucky if they had rubber gloves to work with. Many scooped the crude out of the sea using their bare hands or used absorbents made of straw mats and stockings filled with donated human hair. Some became seriously ill even before the clean-up was over.
Officially the government is sticking to its story that 1500 tonnes (about 11,000 barrels) were released unto the Yellow Sea. Anecdotal evidence of the extent and thickness of oil in the water's surface suggests fare more, as does a report that, as the fire from the initial explosion spread, up to 50,000 tonnes of oil was deliberately released from onshore tanks to prevent them catching fire.
Rick Steiner, a respected American marine conservationist who has spent years working on oil spills around the world, visited the affected area and reported that several hundred thousand barrels of leaked oil is a more likely figure. This puts the Dalian spill on comparable scale with the Exxon Valdez disaster (Which Steiner studied) off Alaska in 1989.
For now, the Dalian coastline shows few signs of the spill, and swimmers have gone back to enjoying the gold-sand beaches and warm waters. The long-term effects on the coastal environment, the fisheries and the locals, who suffered both from direct contact with the oil and from the toxic air that hung over the city for days, remain uncertain.
My day:
Have had a really amazing day. Always exiting to come to a new city and also a new family. But Dalian was not what I expected.
I thought I would live in an old couple house, well I do. But they are not home. So have the whole apartment for my self. Quite modern and everything looks nice.
The couple's daughter, think she is in her starting 40'ties, was the one who welcomed me into the home. Very nice woman.
My day started very early, went up at 6am to pack everything, I though I could make do with a little hand luggage suitcase, but then I realized there were no reason why not to bring the big one instead, think I have a tendency to take to much clothes with me, but you never know if you need it! Hehe.
"Deng Baba" drove me to the airport; very nice of him, even though I told him I could take the subway there.
I arrived in good time, so I ate a little dish in the airport, and studied some Chinese, preparing to meet the new family. Had an idea that they couldn't speak English, but I was mistaking, Wang Qi, the daughter, which also is a mother to a 14 year old boy, her English is quite good for a Chinese person her age. She can't make a whole complete sentence, but I understand everything she tells me.
Li Guannan was waiting for me in Dalian airport when I arrived, her whole family were there too, and her Danish boyfriend. Li Guannan taking her Masters at SDU Sønderborg (University), I have tutoring lessons with her at Uni. She teaches me Chinese, and I teach her Danish. So she was nice to find a family or place I could live at here in Dalian. They were quite busy Li Guannan and her family, so they put me on a taxi, told the driver where to go. I drove half an hour I think, till I arrived near the apartment where Wang Qi, waited with her niece "Echo", a girl a few years younger than me. I only paid 42 Yuan for the half an hour drive. That I really love about China; it cost almost nothing to take a cap here. I almost pay 42 Yuan in Denmark just to go sit in the cap.
After showing me where to live, we drove to Wang Qi's own home, where she served me lunch. Steamed buns, and dumpling. Quite tasty. Afterwards she drove me to the harbour/Ocean Park. They had some plans for the afternoon, and were completely fine with me, I wanted to go to the beach and relax anyway. But there were no beach in walking distance. The Ocean Park had a beach, but it cost 210 Yuan for the entrance fee. A bit too expansive I thought; so I tried to walk along the Park, to see if there was a beach further up. But no. After looking in my Lonely Planet book, I found out, the beach was at least 6 km away, and was to lazy to walk that fare, and had in my mind: have 14 days here anyway, so the beach can wait till tomorrow. I took a little mini taxi on three wheels home, bought some water and the local supermarket and went home to relax. Wang Qi said she would pick me up at 7 at the apartment, so I watched some Big Bang Theory, slept half an hour, before she arrived.
At her place, her son was home. Funny kid with a lot of energy, a bit shy though, but his English was quite good I think. Wang Qi was making a delicious dinner. Baozi, some seafood with vegetables, a soup, lotus plant, rice and chicken wing. After the dinner I asked how much I should pay for living at the apartment. And again, they are very nice. Don't have to pay anything. I am a friend of a friend, so no need to pay anything. I prepared gift for her, like with the other family. I gave her a glass bowl from Holmegaard, a plate from Royal Copenhagen with the little mermaid on and a packet of Anton Berg chocolate (the golden box). Think she really liked it, and the son defiantly liked the chocolate.
Afterwards we drove to the Fishermen's Wharf. It's a new built area, with new architectural buildings, café's, and restaurants at the harbour front, where all the fisher boats lie to port. Very beautiful and peaceful area. We walked around for half an hour before turning home.
I don't have Internet access at the apartment, so found a cute little bookstore café with Wi-Fi at the Fishermen's Wharf.
Bedtime! Goodnight!
Ps: I miss you Vince!
- comments
Martin K. Hej Steffen, Det lyder godt nok spændende det hel, ny by, nye mennesker, du oplever virkelig meget og det er meget spændende at følge med i. Vi fortsat ønske dig en rigtig dejlig tur.