June 18, 2007
Dalian (CHINA)
Trip to Bing Yu Gou Mountain and Hotel Karaoke
This morning our group of seven REU students met outside the laboratory and boarded a bus for a two-day excursion to the mountains north of Dalian. We were accompanied by the Chinese graduate students with whom we are working, but the best part was that everything was paid for and we could miss two days of work.
After a tiring four hour bus ride we finally arrived at a shabby hotel near Bing Yu Gou (the name of the mountain). We were served a lunch that none of us were particularly keen on eating, but in my case, hunger eventually won out. I suppose it is worth recording that I (knowingly) ate my first fish eyeball today, but it was hardly what I expected - the eyeball had a bone-like material at its core with a taste-less outer membrane. I always imagined eating an eyeball would be more of a "squishy" experience, so perhaps I will have to sample a different variety of eyeball next time.
After
lunch, the group headed off for nearby hot springs, but
exhaustion had a hold on me and I opted to stay at the
hotel and catch up on some much needed sleep. I feel
like I may be getting too old for all this!
The group returned a little after 7pm, and after an unconvincing dinner we began a karaoke session on the hotel's ground floor - our group of twenty or so were the sole visitors (likely for the entire one-street town). After listening to several Chinese songs - which invariably deal with love - we entertained our Chinese friends with songs of our own. First on the agenda was "Born to Be Wild" - one that always rocks the house - and we followed it up with the more mellow "Hotel California."
** Note: Soon I will post youTube video showing us while we sing Hotel California. **