Phil Palmer : August 2016

Wednesday 31 August 2016

China - Day 219

I have had a bit of a lazy day today. After breakfasting on a single mooncake from the freezer (not like yesterday's breakfast - see vid below) I packed for my trip round NE China (Dalian - Yantai - Beijing) and (on 5th September) back to the UK. I can't really believe that this is ALL I need but still......

Monday 29 August 2016

China - Day 217

Today I left the Shenyang flat and walked the 1km to work with my luggage. After a day at work, Tina drove me to Shenyang train station for the 1855 and I was back in Jinzhou by 2100 to watch MOTD and have beers with Tim

China - Day 218

Meeting Chris at Jinzhounan

End of night

Saturday 27 August 2016

China - Day 216

Friday 26 August 2016

China - Day 215

OMG mind that car!

My kindergarten kids are all cuties, even the naughty ones!

Thursday 25 August 2016

China - Day 214

I am trying to book the sea crossing from Dalian to Yantai, It is not possible for a foreigner to do this online because the booking system will not accept a foreigner's style of ID number

China - Day 213

Tuesday 23 August 2016

China - Day 212

Packed in the morning and then took the train to Shenyang. Tina met me off the train with her boss and they took me to my new apartment (at least for this week).

It is absolutely filthy but I was able to make a start on cleaning it this evening and I have got most of tomorrow morning to make it habitable before I walk along the road the 15 minutes to the Bonding English school where I am expected at 1200. I have two classes tomorrow late afternoon early evening

China - Day 211

Spent the morning preparing for the rest of my time in China before I go back to the UK. Here is my itinerary - Tuesday 23rd back to Shenyang (teaching at the kindergarten there) - Sunday 28th back to Jinzhou - Monday 29/30th Chris Hinton to visit me in Jinzhou - Thursday 1st September take the train to Dalian in the afternoon - Friday 2nd take the boat to Yantai to meet the staff at Yantai University and talk about the job on offer there - Saturday 3rd at Yantai - Sunday 4th take the train to Beijing - Monday 5th fly back to the UK

I met Steve and a dragonfly for lunch at Story Coffee and chilled out for the rest of the day

Sunday 21 August 2016

China - Day 210

Walked to work from the hotel and it took about 45 minutes

Had breakfast on the sidewalk

Took the slow train back to Jinzhou

China - Day 209

led a couple of demo classes today for the kindergarten kids, and in between times spent time in the office where there was a bit of a drama over the laminator

moved to a cheaper hotel

China - Day 208

Had breakfast of rice porridge, pasty and spicy noodles in a restaurant just along from the plush shopping centre which has Bonded English on the second floor

Thursday 18 August 2016

China - Day 206

Spent the day organising what I am going to do between now and when I come back to England on September 5th. Everything is open to change but I want to see LiuXiaoMeng so I booked some tickets for Dandong next week and lined up a job interview in Shenyang for tomorrow....

China - Day 207

Spent the afternoon at a language school in a shopping centre in South West Shenyang

There is a big salary on offer and accommodation close to the place I would be working

The agent drove me back to my hotel after the interview and the lights of Shenyang sparkle at night..... .. .. .. . . . .

China - Day 205

Back in China - arrived at 0130 so slept in arrivals for a couple of hours before joining the queue to get through immigration

One thing I noticed immediately was that there was much less obesity here in China - then I remembered all the Dunkin Donuts and McDo outlets that I had seen in the Philippines - then I thought about how hot it was all year round and how the streets are so hot, dirty, dusty, uneven and difficult to navigate and how no-one ever walks anywhere there. But we have McDo here in Beijing (just starting up). Fatboy Fat was in there today while waiting for the train to Jinzhou - enjoying the aircon and a fudge sundae...... .. .. .. . . . .

China - Day 204 - the journey back from the Philippines

Spent the day coming back. Stopped off on the bus with time for rice cakes at a service station

(vid to follow) Got to the airport in Manila with plenty of time to spare. Chaos at the airport as there was no information available on the boards. I got the impression, from listening to the announcements, that there were plenty of Chinese people achieving 'last call for _' status as a result of the chaos