Dandong

Up at 7 to the sound of snoring. It was actually the pig grunting in the yard. No time for brekkie, as we had planned to head o Dandong. We needed to get to Zhuanghe and then find a bus to Dandong. Had an interesting time in a car to Zhuanghe. The Irish lad and his girlfriend were gonna get a bus but decided to get a “taxi” instead, which was a local woman in a shiny new-ish big white car. She was clearly gonna rip them off, charging 80 yuan. She then said she’s charge them 50 and us 30 if we went too. We just decided to go, since it would be quicker than waiting for a bus! I was surprised at her driving, just the same as the men in China. Pretty much, overtake now and then beep the horn as you are passing in the hope that traffic will notice!!

We got to ZhuangHe but no buses to Dandong. We went outside and some punter on a motorcycle taxi said he’d take us to the second bus station! That was my first experience on a motorbike taxi. I think he went a bit slow, since my friend was a bit anxious.

To digress, there are these motorbike taxis in Dalian, around the uni. They’re pretty big bikes, dunno what make they are. They will take you where you wanna go for cheap. The cool thing is the lights. They are all decorated in what you could only say were Christmas lights! You can’t miss ‘em! I must get a photo!

Anyways, to get back to the plot, we got a bus to Dandong. The 2 interesting things at Dandong are the fact that it’s on the North Korea border and also that there is part of the Great Wall there! Other than that, there’s nothing much else to say about the place: smaller than Dalian and also less crowded! It’s relatively clean as well!

Continuing our cheap and cheerful accommodation theme, we happened to find a place beside the bus station: above a shop! The room stank of old cigarettes but it was a steal at 15 yuan each!

Onwards, we went in search of the river.

to be continued…………