China - week 2

Early in the week we had the town tour we were supposed to take the first (very rainy) day. Our first stop was the huge monument opposite the beer-festival park, built to celebrate the city's centenary. Its a huge curve lying horizontal to the ground, with a mass of footprints leading up to it. It was strange to think that such a large city could only have been there just over a hundred years. Our next stop was the 'lovers road'. We were dropped off at one end of the bridge and picked up at the other (?!) but the Chinese tale goes that if you walk the road with your partner you will be together forever. Then we headed to Tiger beach. It was next to the sea but where the actual beach was was a mystery to me! Luckily, sand wasn't the main attraction. There was a huge sculpture of decorative leaping tigers.
 That evening we went out for a Korean barbeque. We sat in an (un-air-conditioned!) room with little barbeque pits on the table, where you cook your own meat. It was tasty but so much heat in one room in such a hot country was verging on unbearable!

A Korean barbeque

Wish I'd picked up this classic!

What a room for KTV!

We went back to the underground shopping centre this week with some of the Chinese students for a good spot of shopping. We also went to a larger shopping centre later in the week with lots of western stores... and unfortunately western prices :( But that evening we headed off to Karaoke - or KTV as it is in China. The students really wanted to take us as it's a really big thing that they do a lot. We went into this big fancy building, with ladies in Chinese dresses at the door and past a maze of small rooms with sofas and TVs, only big enough for 10 people max! Being a large group, we got given a huge room, with a balcony and a big performance area - it was like a mini-club! The Chinese weren't at all embarrassed to start of the entertainment and by the end we were all dancing an singing. Considering my apprehensive view of karaoke, it was a great night out!