The trip itself was not without its irritations, but that would be a different story.

But we really liked Dandong. For me, at least, the highlight was waking up that hill to the pagoda on the summit. It was a little over a km. There was plenty of good nature, larches, aspens, interspersed with the occasional park feature like bump car rides and kiosks. Also a moderate amount of people, so you never are alone - at least on the main paved wide path that circles…

A quick question on getting Wi-fi: Do I also have to get a subscription or account, or is the price of the wifi unit the only thing I need (as my boss assures me)?

I have used my father's wifi back in Kansas, but have never actually set up a wifi account, so this is all new to me.

My school here in Jilin gave us an old computer with slow dial-up connection, but I also have my laptop which I brought over - good thing too! The old dial-up is good…

A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel: Volume Two and Cooking with Poo are on a shortlist for the prize of the oddest book title of the year.

Watched Hugo - Scorcese's latest and ... well I won't give an opinion until everybody has had a chance to watch. Hugo is amazing in it's atmospheric Parisian design, it's star-studded, and definitely worth watching.

However, I've always been left disappointed after many Scorcese's recent films - Shutter Island, Gangs of New York. His new films must cost so much but rarely deliver for me. WHat do you think of Scorcese's…

Apple battles to avoid iPad ban in China

The latest stage of Apple’s battle to use the “iPad” trademark in China saw heated exchanges in a Shanghai court, as the technology giant fought to avoid disruption to global supplies of its best-selling tablet.

t is under attack from Shenzhen Proview Technology, a Chinese company, which registered the iPad trademark in 2001. Apple bought rights to the name fro £35,000 from a Taiwanese company affiliated with Proview but the mainland…

English has been the dominant global language for a century, but is it the language of the future? If Mandarin Chinese is to challenge English globally, then it first has to conquer its own backyard, South East Asia.

In Malaysia's southernmost city of Johor Bahru, the desire to speak good English has driven some children to make a remarkable two-hour journey to school every day.....…

Everybody loves a bright white smile, and there are a variety of products and procedures available to help you improve the look of yours.Many people are satisfied with the sparkle they get from brushing twice daily with a fluoride-containing toothpaste, cleaning between their teeth once a day and the regular cleanings at your dentist’s office. If you decide you would like to go beyond this to make your smile look brighter, you should investigate all of your options.

Here are several…

Am thinking of going to HK for a weekend - tips/hints on hotels/ restaurants what to do etc warmly welcomed

The cold weather as a resource and an attraction!

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/regional/jilinspecial.html

Love and miss Jilin Province!

Location: 1180 Minkang Road

I enjoyed, for the most part, my first teaching day in China. There certainly were a few surprises, but one of them was not that I didn't have any assistants - in any of the classes. Somehow I expected that. But it was no problem. As a former substitute, before my more steady teaching job, I learned the value of having plan A, plan B, and plan B in my bag of tricks.

A bigger inconvenience was the lack of whiteboard markers. Does anyone know where one can buy those?…

http://http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/poutine.html

Be careful what you think!

Scientists have unveiled a new technique for decoding human brainwaves and then converting them into speech.

The technique may one day make it possible to communicate with patients who are unable to talk.

Who knows where this might end up, but for sure, I will have to be very careful what I think (dream) :)…