The Economics Department is taking a trip for the weekend to Hangzhou. We need to get OUT of the big city!!! Hangzhou is a small city of only 6.2 million about 3 hours southwest of Shanghai. We leave on the train from the South Shanghai Railway Station at 9:30 am.

The special characteristic of Hangzhou is Xi Hu (West Lake), which was only created recently in the 8th century (that's relatively recently for eastern China). A very large lake, I am sure there will be much to share and many pictures!! grinning

WOW, we ate too well again yesterday for lunch - Sichuan style - yes, the spicy stuff! There were 9 of us and probably 15 dishes!! Everything from excellently prepared eggplant to broccoli to chicken soup and tomato soup to deep fried fish and unfortuantely I can't remember them all in English, let alone Chinese!! It really is very nice to have a nice group of wonderful colleagues - Chinese AND Western (yes, the english speaking colleagues are from all over - remember we work for the SYDNEY Institute of Language and Commerce, so we have some Australians, English, Scottish and yes even Americans!! As well as one teacher from Hong Kong and another from Singapore!). Here's a picture of a few of the Chinese in Dalian.



From left to right they are Linda, Catherine, Crystal and Tracey (yes, of course those are their English names - they are English teachers! Catherine is also our "savior" of sorts - when we need help like visas, new work permits, a trip  to the hospital, or ANYTHING - she's the one to help and she is a fantastic help, no doubt about it!)