More photos as promised!

Dalian, China
Jan 2006

Thank goodness for having the internet connection back to normal. No more hair-pulling days due to boredom waiting for pages to load. I am serious, I have tried loading a page for one whole day and it didn't work, and that was how bad the connection was.

Anyway, I am happy to have resized all the photos and we can now show you guys what we did in the last month here in Dalian. Well, actually not too much :P

Fireworks are indeed invented by Chinese and they just light them as and when they wish, you don't need a special occasion, light it up whenever :) And this just happened right outside our building last week. I can hear fireworks being lighted up around the area almost 2 times a week, each time lasting about 10-15 mins. So I don't need to wait for New Year's or National Day in Singapore just to see them.



Here at the 五七广场 (5/7 Square), is an exciting place to just stand and watch the world go by, and literally watch how fast it goes by in front of you. This has got to be one of the busiest place in the whole of Dalian. Look at the traffic and tell me is it not chaotic! And the traffic lights are working.



Dalian has a relatively short history for such a vibrant city. It celebrated its Centennial anniversary in 1999. The 星海广场 (Xinghai Square) is where the exhibition centres are located. Due to its prime location facing the sea, there are a few exclusive condominiums built just next to the 'castle', or known as the Shell Museum of Dalian. This construction was intended to be a luxury hotel but the developer ran out of money to finish the interior. The government took over the building and turned it into the Shell Museum (贝壳博物馆）.








Centennial Anniversary - A Walk by the Citizens of Dalian


As mentioned, Dalian's history dates back around 100 years ago, the city was once dominated by Russians and Japanese, therefore leaving strong western architectural influences. The city undergoes rapid changes but at the same time considered as one of China's most environmentally friendly place. In 1999 when the city celebrated its 100th Anniversary, the government invited people from all walks of life to mark the city's history on this cemented path. The footsteps include those of the 3-inch foot ladies （三寸金莲) as well as farmers, elderly and the young generation of Dalian.

I will be sad to leave Dalian because I will definitely miss the cold weather. It has been a nice change for me from the heat in Singapore. The weather has been generous to have let me seen it snowed. So maybe this will be our last post from Dalian. Till then, updates coming from Singapore, maybe.

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Loose Translation

Dalian, China
Dec 2006
Our sincere apologies to friends who have not seen us update our blog for the longest time, and you've probably given up on this site. The last few months since July 2006 have been a little chaotic for us, deciding where to go next from Italy.

The Taiwan earthquake has also disrupted internet connections and have made me so frustrated just to check emails, let alone to upload photos and post new happenings on the blog.

So finally we here in Dalian, China. Antonio received this job offer in Dalian to set up a fine dining Mediterranean restaurant, the first in the city.

Dalian is a beautiful city, as what Bruce & Angie said. This is my first time in China and I was pleasantly surprised by the generally clean streets in this city. There is still one disgusting habit that Chinese cannot change, that is spitting. The government has taken steps to stop people from spitting in public, but they still do it.

Once I had a gluey spit missing my new boots by a few millimeters. It was from a young man, about my age, with his girlfriend. He casually just expelled phlegm as we walked out from one of the poshest shopping mall of Dalian, spitting has no class boundaries! So you can imagine me hopping through the streets to avoid stepping on gluey spit!

The other thing that amuses me is the translations. When going around some of the local shopping centres, we always manage to find some amusing signages. (see below)



I will continue to keep a look out for these funny signages and will post them online. I have so much more to post as well, photos from our last trip to Italy and more photos of Dalian. I promise I will keep this blog more active and will have more coming.

Ciao tutti.

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