All About China > Share your love story

Finally in Shenyang

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Arnold:
Well , from one Arnold to another .. great of you sharing your Story here with us . A good one it is and hope it will continue this way .
About gaining weight , hahaha .. I already need a size 34 Pant's instead 32 waist . But why fight this kind of care-taking ???

Peter Arnold:
Well, thought I'd better give a belated update of my adventures in Shenyang.
   This place is certainly not the tourist Mecca of China. And it is getting very cold here. The wind is bitter and we will get down to 3 degrees tomorrow, Sunday.
   My friend Renjie has work six days a week, no surprise to most of you guys. So we spend evenings together at her old, small two bedroom apartment in the old part of the Tiexi District. I actually like the area as there are a lot of street side sellers and old style market places that sell meat for the evening meals. It is the equivalent of my western suburbs in Sydney where I grew up. So I feel we have similar backgrounds. She has lived there all of her life in that district and has four other older sisters. She had a brother who died of self abuse I think. I think he smoked and drank heavily. Seems the woman can cope better than the men.
  We spent last Sunday and Monday in Beijing as she managed to get Monday off. Her brother in law works at the railways, so was able to organise some tickets on a sleeper from Shenyang. They are clean and quite comfortable. It is an eight hour trip which arrives about seven in the morning.
  I was very impressed with Beijing. It is very clean and modern. Transport is very  good and modern. We went to the Great Wall by taxi, and the driver waited for us. That is some climb. If you want to do it, make sure you are fit as it is very, very steep, but well worth it. Unfortunately there was a fog that didn't lift all day. The next day was brilliant sunshine all day. Oh well, we were worried about forecast rain. We also strolled around the Summer Palace which is quite nice but packed with lots of bloody tourists, just like me.
  I have to say that my friend Renjie has been a very good host and put in a lot of effort to look after me. We have become quite close, but have agreed that we will probably only stay as good friends. We had a good talk using two windows to make sure our translations were what we wanted to say. Thanks to Scott for that translation tip.
  My time is coming to a close here and it has been a great learning experience. I still find it difficult to communicate anything more difficult than buying milk or ordering a meal at  a small place where I just get noodles for lunch. I have only come across two other Westerners here. One was a Canadian guy here with a Chinese lady he met in Canada, and the other a woman who I briefly introduced myself to in the elevator. I can walk the streets for hours, which I often do through the day, and never see another westerner. I like Willys' take on being stared at and feeling like a movie star. I do not get offended. After all I am the odd man out and it is their turf.
  Well, till my next update which may be an assessment of my time here, thanks for the support  guys,
Peter from Downunder.

RobertBfrom aust:
That is great Peter , when are you heading home or elsewhere , regards Sujuan and Robert .

Jason B:
Great update Peter, really open and honest.

Scottish_Rob:
great  read Peter, good luck my friend

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