Dandong - Benxi

MOM - click on the arrow on the bottom image to see the video.  It may take a little time to load in.  xxx

The bridge that finishes
halfway across the river

Spanning the Yalu River from Dandong to North Korea, are two bridges.  One is intact (built 1937 - 1943) and the other goes halfway across the river and then ends.  This older bridge was built in 1909 - 1911 but bombed in 1950 during the Korean War as a way of cutting off supplies from China to North Korea.  It was left as half a bridge and is a tourist attraction today.  We walked to the endpoint - a somber reminder of a war half a century ago.  

Girls dressed in traditional Korean outfits
Note the half-bridge behind and piles from missing parts

Benxi (relatively small population of about 1.5 million) and the large cave system was our next stop after several hours of driving northwest.    These are not well-known to the western world and in fact we were the only European faces to be seen here.  Given that coal mining is a primary income in Benxi, this is probably how these caves were discovered.  (Just as an aside - a comment from Wikipedia - “The worst coal mining disaster in the world took place on April 26, 1942 in Benxihu Colliery. A coal-dust explosion killed 1,549 miners working that day.”  In any case the caves are amazing!

Entrance to caves at Benxi

The air temperature is a constant 7 degrees Celcius summer and winter - so very chilly!  There are dry caves that you can walk through, but the main feature is the boat trip into the caves (about 20 minutes each way), viewing stalactites and stalagmites.  We were fortunate in that our boat skipper did not talk during the trip, allowing us to enjoy the trip quietly.  It was hard to get photos that look like anything but William did get a video shoot that looks pretty good.  It didn’t feel as noisy as the video sounds though! 

xxx,

Shanghaisuz

Travelling - Dalian - Dandong

Hi again!

Early Monday morning I caught a plane to Dalian where I visited William and Sue.  William was keen to try out driving here, having just got his chinese license, so we first visited Jinshi Beach and going on around to Golden Pebble Beach and Tiger Beach.  At Tiger Beach we stopped for 

Windmill at Golden Pebble Beach

a

William and Sue

a fish barbecue and we saw a number of wedding photos being taken.  (Here they are not taken on "the day" but rather months before the day. The setting - beautiful.  The bride - beautiful, but look carefully at the second shot.  The dresses are hired and just for show.  Underneath they wear jeans and sneakers! 

A beautiful bride... but....

check out what is underneath!

Fish drying in the sun

We drove the scenic route, enjoying quaint views along the way.  I was surprised at the amount of corn grown.  Family workers husk it in the field and the corn is put into racks on top of the houses, to dry.  This creates quite a splash of colour!  The stalks 

are piled up into a teepee-shaped bundle in the fields - presumably to be used for fuel.  

A highly-laden vehicle!

Rice paddy

A Sunday Morning Stroll

A typical old Chinese street

I was told that not far from our community, there is a typical old Chinese village.  My lovely neighbour from upstairs, C. (and her young son R.) offered to go for a walk there with me and today was the day.

We decided to go early, setting out at 7:00 and we decided to walk.  As it turned out, this was much better than trying to go by scooter or by bike because it gave us a chance to stop along the way, check out the signs and (for her!) to talk to the locals.  What an eye-opener it was!

A local government building

Recycling station

Nearly every house had some land which was cultivated to the max with eggplant, pumpkins, corn, persimmons, sugar cane and beans.  The people clearly work very hard to cultivate their small holdings.  

A local government building was the conspicuously modern, new structure but as you can see, the houses were quite a bit older.  We walked past a recycling plant, which very much interested my young companion, R.  We had to pry him away from that!

R. with cotton drying on racks

C. and R. - eating sugar cane

Sugar cane growing

At one spot we saw cotton on drying racks and C. tells me that often the seeds and the fibre is still separated by hand.  The people in the village only grow the cotton - they sell it on to be processed further.  The lady gave us sugar cane which we happily chewed on as we walked further.

R. and I

Beautiful garden with water on two sides

As you have seen in my previous posts, there are canals in our compound.  As we walked along, the canals became rivers, with gardens, forest or weeping willows along the banks.  Very picturesque and idyllic.  The road was very narrow, making it quite a mission when two cars met and you certainly had to keep your wits about you as a pedestrian!

Further down though, there were areas of broken brick and rubble which was not so beautiful.  

Man washing clothes

Since the weather was fine, it seemed a prime day for washing clothes.  We saw many people washing or hanging their washing out.  Many houses had pumps outside which are used for washing clothes.  The water is not safe to drink.  Mainly it was women doing the washing, but I did find a man who was doing his share of the chores! (and he was happy for me to take his photo).

Local shop!

This "house" had a satellite dish!

The local shops were interesting and many of these people would not have even been to the supermarket where I shop - a mere few kilometres away.  For many I may have been the first European they had ever seen in the flesh.  What a life they must lead.  Several of the poorer-looking houses had satellite TV dishes outside.  Interesting priorities.  

The ladies public toilet

There was even a public bathroom for those in need.  It was, as I expected, a “squattie pottie”!  The footmarks tell the story really.  

All in all it was a great morning with lots of new sights and experiences.  And that is what I came here for!

xx,

Shanghaisuz