Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2005

Dandong and Yalu River

Mr. Ma and his wife gave us a gift of jars of peaches. When we had lunch in Xiuyan, both Tom and I thought the peaches and the beer were the best part of the meal. China has an abundance of produce year round. It's generally very safe to eat when it is in jars or processed in some way, and even fresh produce can be safely eaten if it is washed thoroughly (just like US produce!). After our experience with breakfast the previous morning, I went outside the hotel to buy green tea and a few other things for breakfast, and for the train trip back to Beijing. The customary green tea in this area is made with barley, and I prefer the pure green or jasmine teas. The early morning shopping trip was interesting, giving me a chance to be with local people and use my Putonghua, Chinese language. The dialect is different from Beijing, and in fact each area has a different dialect, but Putonghua is basic Chinese and I can get by. I can understand better than I can speak, but the little I do know is very helpful. It's most interesting to listen to Chinese people talking because mostly they don't think Americans can understand them at all. Most of the time, Chinese people seem to like, or are at least tolerant of Americans, but in Dandong we encountered rudeness at the hotel, and in shops when we went exploring later, and the worst experience was when an elderly woman dropped a trash can of rotten food on my feet. I saw her coming towards me with it, but was really surprised when she practically threw it at me. I think she was more surprised when I accepted her "apology" in Chinese, and remained smiling and tolerant of the incident. Anyway, we did have a good breakfast with the food I purchased, and enough to eat on the train, too.

Mr. Ma accompanied us to the Yalu River where we took a dragon boat tour of the river.

Before we went to the train station to return to Beijing, we had a final meal with Mr. Ma. It gave us an opportunity to talk about business, friendship, and he always patiently answers my endless questions about China. I am very grateful for our friendship and business relationship, and thanks to him we were able to have experiences in China that were very special.

NEXT: Return train to Beijing and more shopping