Where in the World are Dave and Elizabeth?

 We pulled into Tianjing this morning. Yesterday, we were in Dalian.  Today, I will be catching up on the blog with tidbits from Suzhou, Dalian, and  Tianjin Of course, this is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac.  All the cities in China we have seen feature dragons and the color red in decorations this year, and Dalian was no exception.  Our guide in Suzhou the other day explained that it is considered very fortunate to be born in the Dragon year, so many Chinese families time their pregnancies to coincide with this time. I read later that this has sometimes strained the limits of maternity care in certain years. All of the red and gold is very cheerful on these chilly, in between winter and spring days. The current city of Dalian was founded by Russians in the nineteenth century, so the old heart of the city has a Russian influence. We visited a city park that was laid out during the Russian time.  There has also been a huge Japanese i...

Dajia Hao! Yesterday was our second and last day in Shanghai. Dave and I took a long shuttle ride to near the Bund River Walkway.  Shanghai is magnificent, but overwhelmingly large and there is no way we could do more than scratch the surface of this great city in just two days.  Being in the Bund Area let us see and interact with one piece of Shanghai's heart. One place we visited was the beautiful Fairmount Peace Hotel, which was built in 1929.  I noticed that near the Hotel, there were some women who dressed in styles from the 1960's to the 1940's.  How fun it has been to see the care that so many Japanese, Korean, and Chinese young people put into their dress. For us as tourists, it's kind of like visiting not only a place, but a time, as well. Our plan had been to go to the Yu Gardens for some of Shanghai's famous Xiaolongbao, but our trip to the Bund took longer than we anticipated, and our time was limited. I am sure we were surrounded by authentic restaurant...