Wednesday, April 9
It's been awhile!! Work has been crazy, as usual! Last week I just had normal classes. Nothing too special. This past weekend, my friends Breana, Mark, Richard, and I went to Dandong. It's the city on the North Korean border. We left Saturday morning around 9. It was about a 5 hour train ride away but we had our own room and everybody had a bed so it was a pretty good ride. The train there was a little bit dirty but...it's nothing my immune system hasn't seen before! Once we got into the city, we walked to the hotel, which was right on the water front near the two bridges that connect China to North Korea. It was actually pretty cool. It took us a little bit to check in because the hotel didn't get our reservation for the room but eventually we got in. We then walked around the water front and went on the Broken Bridge which is a bridge that was bombed in the 1950's and then never rebuilt. We walked around there for awhile and then headed back once it got dark. On our way back to the hotel, we saw a lady selling paper lanterns so we bought some to set off. The lady wanted us to write things on them that...like wishes...it was very very cool to do!! We watched our lanterns float all the way over to DPRK! After that, we went out to hot pot for dinner and then back to the hotel. It was a really long day so we all went to bed pretty early!
The next morning, Breana and I slept in while the boys went out to have some breakfast. Once we finally decided to get up, we met them at a nice cafe we had found the day before and had some breakfast. After eating, we went and got on a boat tour that took us right up to the shore of DPRK. We had the option of taking a slow cruise boat or paying a little more and taking a small speedboat that fit just the 4 of us and the captain. The ride was soooo cool!! I highly suggest it to anybody who goes there! Our ride was about 20 minutes but the captain got us so close to shore! He was really funny and kept trying to talk to me when I sat next to him and I just kept having to tell him I don't understand him. I really should start learning more Chinese! I guess I've made it this far without it though so I'm kind of hesitant to start learning haha. After the awesome boat ride, we went took a cab to a park where we had to climb up a large hill/small mountain to get to a pagoda that was on the top. On the way up, there was a small amusement park for kids and some animals. It's so sad how animals are treated here!! They had the smallest cages and it was just really sad : ( We walked around for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel to have a nap. Traveling is tiring!! We went out to dinner around 6 to a Korean restaurant where there was dinner and a show. It was pretty good, but even better because Mark was chosen to get up and dance with the girls haha. After dinner, we went out to a few bars and then eventually just went back to the hotel. Nothing too exciting happened! Oh...we met a guy that we had seen on the train the day before so that was kind of funny.
The next day we just kind of hung around until our train left at 3. Anddd...that's about it for my weekend! I'll put some better descriptions on the pictures. Time to get back to work. BYE!
It's been awhile!! Work has been crazy, as usual! Last week I just had normal classes. Nothing too special. This past weekend, my friends Breana, Mark, Richard, and I went to Dandong. It's the city on the North Korean border. We left Saturday morning around 9. It was about a 5 hour train ride away but we had our own room and everybody had a bed so it was a pretty good ride. The train there was a little bit dirty but...it's nothing my immune system hasn't seen before! Once we got into the city, we walked to the hotel, which was right on the water front near the two bridges that connect China to North Korea. It was actually pretty cool. It took us a little bit to check in because the hotel didn't get our reservation for the room but eventually we got in. We then walked around the water front and went on the Broken Bridge which is a bridge that was bombed in the 1950's and then never rebuilt. We walked around there for awhile and then headed back once it got dark. On our way back to the hotel, we saw a lady selling paper lanterns so we bought some to set off. The lady wanted us to write things on them that...like wishes...it was very very cool to do!! We watched our lanterns float all the way over to DPRK! After that, we went out to hot pot for dinner and then back to the hotel. It was a really long day so we all went to bed pretty early!
The next morning, Breana and I slept in while the boys went out to have some breakfast. Once we finally decided to get up, we met them at a nice cafe we had found the day before and had some breakfast. After eating, we went and got on a boat tour that took us right up to the shore of DPRK. We had the option of taking a slow cruise boat or paying a little more and taking a small speedboat that fit just the 4 of us and the captain. The ride was soooo cool!! I highly suggest it to anybody who goes there! Our ride was about 20 minutes but the captain got us so close to shore! He was really funny and kept trying to talk to me when I sat next to him and I just kept having to tell him I don't understand him. I really should start learning more Chinese! I guess I've made it this far without it though so I'm kind of hesitant to start learning haha. After the awesome boat ride, we went took a cab to a park where we had to climb up a large hill/small mountain to get to a pagoda that was on the top. On the way up, there was a small amusement park for kids and some animals. It's so sad how animals are treated here!! They had the smallest cages and it was just really sad : ( We walked around for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel to have a nap. Traveling is tiring!! We went out to dinner around 6 to a Korean restaurant where there was dinner and a show. It was pretty good, but even better because Mark was chosen to get up and dance with the girls haha. After dinner, we went out to a few bars and then eventually just went back to the hotel. Nothing too exciting happened! Oh...we met a guy that we had seen on the train the day before so that was kind of funny.
The next day we just kind of hung around until our train left at 3. Anddd...that's about it for my weekend! I'll put some better descriptions on the pictures. Time to get back to work. BYE!