Shenyang, Liaoning Province:
I'm happy to be deplaned and free of airports today after 29 hours of travel. I've spent the day catching up with myself and finding out just where in the world I am.
Before I left California, I studied maps of China, familiarizing myself with the region. You can see from the map above, that Shenyang is in the north east part of China, just to the west of North Korea. Liaoning province has a population of nearly 43 million people. Shenyang is the capitol city of the province, and China's fourth largest city. It's a leading manufacturing hub and a highly industrialized area. There seems to be more buildings under construction and destruction than there are those occupied. I can almost see it growing as I look out on to it from my hotel room. (So much for the geography lesson ...)
Shenyang is also one of the venues for the 2008 Olympics. It will host some of the soccer matches at the new stadium (pictured above). With the start of the games only a few weeks away, there is a lot of buzz (and flags) in the city already. I flew into the new terminal of the Beijing Capitol Airport yesterday, and there were hundreds of newly minted Olympic "hosts" and government personnel "practicing" making nice with visitors. I could still smell the paint drying; everything is new, shiny and ready to roll.
The Sheraton Lido Hotel, where I'm staying, is suitably upscale, but (to my disappointment) has no electric toilets. It does, however, have some interesting items on the room service menu:
- Aged Pumpkin Soup
- Marinated Jelly Fish Heads with Black Vinegar and Cucumber
- Braised Whole Shark's Fin Served with Plain Rice
- Sweetened Superior Bird's Nest with Lily Bud
- Boiled Sea Cucumber Dumpling
....... decisions, decisions, decisions .......
I can make out a KFC sign down the block; the Colonel never sounded so good.
Before I left California, I studied maps of China, familiarizing myself with the region. You can see from the map above, that Shenyang is in the north east part of China, just to the west of North Korea. Liaoning province has a population of nearly 43 million people. Shenyang is the capitol city of the province, and China's fourth largest city. It's a leading manufacturing hub and a highly industrialized area. There seems to be more buildings under construction and destruction than there are those occupied. I can almost see it growing as I look out on to it from my hotel room. (So much for the geography lesson ...)
Shenyang is also one of the venues for the 2008 Olympics. It will host some of the soccer matches at the new stadium (pictured above). With the start of the games only a few weeks away, there is a lot of buzz (and flags) in the city already. I flew into the new terminal of the Beijing Capitol Airport yesterday, and there were hundreds of newly minted Olympic "hosts" and government personnel "practicing" making nice with visitors. I could still smell the paint drying; everything is new, shiny and ready to roll.
The Sheraton Lido Hotel, where I'm staying, is suitably upscale, but (to my disappointment) has no electric toilets. It does, however, have some interesting items on the room service menu:
- Aged Pumpkin Soup
- Marinated Jelly Fish Heads with Black Vinegar and Cucumber
- Braised Whole Shark's Fin Served with Plain Rice
- Sweetened Superior Bird's Nest with Lily Bud
- Boiled Sea Cucumber Dumpling
....... decisions, decisions, decisions .......
I can make out a KFC sign down the block; the Colonel never sounded so good.
2 comments:
I'd have to see an actual picture of you eating KFC to believe that was an option for you unless KFC has a salad bar now :).
...Oh; you know me too well !!!!
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