So after hiking up to the pinnacle of the the Tiger Mountain section of the Great Wall in China just teetering on the edge between China and North Korea I am curious to walk down to the narrow, two step water crossing between the countries. . . I see a pagoda structure up the metal walkway path hugging the lower edge of the mountain we'd just climbed. I want to go there. . . and off I go wanting to take a closer look across the small stream separating the two countries. Off I go, camera in hand and Ben not long behind. Several hundred meters away in the distance is what we've guessed is a N. Korean military guard post and there is someone approaching with what looks like it could be lunch. I walk along the metal catwalk to the pagoda and stand there for some time. One of the military men comes out of the guard post with another close behind. They are heading in our direction. I am taking photos and wondering if the waving is a “stop photographing” message. It definitely seems to be. I continue to photograph as they are quite a ways off. As they near I set my camera on the metal railing and continue to shoot occasionally during the situation which ensues. A conversation. . . they are appealing for money. . . Chinese money. Ben converses with the the guard who requests tobacco, money, Chinese money. . . This is surreal! He is asking us to come around the corner to where we can meet at a fence. Face to face. Small factor being the armed guard on the Chinese side we left behind us near the sign posting “no conversing or exchanging of objects!” We convey to the men as best we can in Korean that we are truly sorry but it is just too dangerous for us to do so and we don't have any tobacco. This situation was so unexpected! We really didn't expect that the N. Korean soldiers would speak with US (had they any clue that we were AMERICANS??? Obviously they really didn't care!). Luckily knowing even rudimentary Korean did make this interaction possible. It was sad to not be able to oblige their requests but really imprisonment or being shot was just not on the list for this trip! As the one soldier walked along the edge of the frozen waterway I felt more concerned for his safety than he seemed to be. So distracted by the opportunity at hand all consciousness of the true possibility of falling into the freezing waters just below and inches away from his feet seemed not to even register in his mind. It only leaves me to wonder more what the true situation for the people in North Korea is. I may never know. Imagine what it would be like to never know freedom of speech, travel, expression or desire! I hope a change is awaiting the people of this highly secretive and unknown land.

-Dalian, China

It's amazing what a difference 600 miles southward can make. I always feel frozen at 20*F but after facing -20F to -27F my body is rejoicing. The sun is out and has burned off the early morning haze in Dandong. I haven't figured out what part is pollution and what part is simply frozen crystals of moisture in the air. We walked across the bridge to “nowhere” watching little to no activity on the N. Korean bank of the Yalu River. Next to us was the currently functioning bridge that carries trucks mostly it seems, between China and North Korea. We saw more coming over the bridge to China than going to N. Korea. The bank of the Yalu on the NK side is caked with ice and looks very underutilized. In comparison the Dandong side has a promenade and park along the river with a few statues and a “touristic” area. Here there are people out on the streets walking, riding bicycles, electric bicycles, mopeds, transporting/delivering all kinds of things on bicycle carts. There is an unending stream of taxis and private cars including BMW's and Mercedes here. . . on the NK side we saw 2 people walking along what appeared to be a dirt road. The two figures seemed more like a patrol than citizens out for a stroll. Standing at the end of the bridge to nowhere you are only about 400M it seems to the NK bank. . . a desolate looking land with old relics of buildings and a frozen ferriswheel. What must the NK people think if they are allowed to get close enough to look across the river at the 10 floor hotels and traffic along the river? Who would think of China as a place to be “free?” Perhaps the NK people do.

Dalian

We've arrived in Dalian by Dain Ferry which curiously enough is flying under a Panamanian flag. The ferry room we slept in was one of the options for economy class. We had a box basically that had a comfortable mattress, firm and the room was warm, maybe almost too warm. It was nice that there was a privacy curtain for each bunk box since there were about 16 of us in there in our cubicles. In the middle of the night the boat was really rocking and reeling. . . it made for interesting dream/nightmares but really was all good. I guess it's like hitting a bad bought of turbulence on an airplane. It was the middle of the night (2 am or so) and thus absolutely pitch black out. If not I would have gone out to the deck to see what kinds of high waves we were in. There were no stars out as it was quite overcast so there would have been nothing to see. . .otherwise you all know me. . . I would have wanted to check it out. I hung out in my cubicle just saying prayers that we wouldn't hit anything unexpectedly or keel over. As there was a ton of cargo boxes/containers in the cargo hold the likelihood of our tipping over was really quite slim but when the the boat was swaying heavily in the night my imagination did really wander. We actually entered through the cargo hold as some of the semi/trucks were "dumping off" and unhitching. There was a TV room on one of the upper decks where we lounged on some reclining chairs, read and ate our picnic dinner during the evening.

In the morning there was a blazing sunrise directly behind us over the South China Sea. It was very windy up on deck due to the combination of the boat's speed and the weather conditions but no lurching about in high waves. It was a rather uneventful docking.

An accommodating local bus driver looked at my book, as I pointed to the train station, and he waved us aboard. We had a good look at part of the northern part of the peninsular city as we wound through old and new areas of Dalian. Our friendly driver waved us off near the train station and we found our way there easily. . . the toughest part was figuring out that we just had to dodge traffic with the locals to cross and no it's not like Vietnam where you just cross at a steady pace. . . here you better have your eyes on you or squish. We bought tickets for our overnight train to Harbin for tomorrow and searched in circles for a hotel which had no name posted. When we finally found it there were no spots so we ended up happily at a cushy Super 8 and are enjoying the comfort this evening sandwiched between 2 nights of travel.

Though cold we did enjoy some comfort from our new investments, cold weather clothes. . . as you can see. Dalian has great contrasts from local tent-style markets to luxurious high-end shopping malls and everything in between. We enjoyed a little of it all ducking in to drink or food shops along the way to warm up or fill our bellies. Ahhh lucky to travel. Life is good!

Please don't fret about errors, I won't be proofing this entry^^

Off Again

Well it's a new year 2011 and once again I am inspired to try to breathe life into this attempt at keeping those I care about up-to-date with my wanderings. It may or not be what I imagine but this time traveling with a net book will hopefully help my endeavor come to fruition.

It is off to the Incheon Western docks to catch a ferry boat to Dalian. The boat to Dandong is "broken" so we were unable to leave earlier as planned. China here we come!