A Few Random Other Things

Toilets (for women) in China are different than in the US. Most bathrooms offer a rectangular, porcelain, flushable trough in the floor which one must squat over. Rarely is toilet paper provided so one learns to carry tissues. In the airports or in more Western oriented establishments, stalls with conventional Western toilets are offered along with the Chinese option (pictures on the doors indicate which is which). Annie, our Beijing guide, told me at one point, however, that pedestal toilets in public places are generally only for the infirm and are considered unclean by most Chinese women. Different strokes for different folks, huh?

In all the cities that we have visited, we have observed outdoor “gyms” in parks and green spaces. Most Chinese live in very small apartments so outdoor venues for exercise are frequented by many. These outdoor gyms offer many different kinds of simple but interesting equipment.

park group exercising

outdoor gym

When we first arrived in Dalian, we were very pleased to have internet in our hotel. Then suddenly we couldn’t sign on any more. We had Charlotte help us ask the front desk about this and the intonation of their reply even in Chinese sounded like, “Well,duh!” Charlotte was a little confused also until she talked to her dad. Turns out that the Chinese government had banned hotels from enabling internet in their establishments during the World Cup final. This was intended to put the kibosh on gambling. Interesting, huh?

A sweet memory from the wedding was Charlotte’s cousin Dong Ying taking pictures with a digital camera. She had never had a camera before and when Charlotte gave her a camera to use and told her to take pictures of everything, Dong Ying was like a kid with a new toy! She took on her assignment with joyous abandon and was everywhere taking pictures of everything. This included taking pictures of herself at arm’s length in front of the afore mentioned everything!

Charlotte and Dong Ying--Manzhouli was FULL of statues!

Here are a couple of Mark’s favorite things in Manzhouli. Zhiyong introduced us to a local blueberry drink which was just yummy--not syrupy at all and with actual berries in it, too. The other thing was quite hilarious. There was a street hawker who kept trying to sell him a glass cutter--what, so he could break in some place more easily??! "Do I look like a cat burglar?", says Mark.