Dalian, the Jewel of Dongbei

Dalian is considered by many to be one of China's best cities, in terms of beauty, ecology and environment. This city with a population of 6.5 million people sits on the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning Province which together with Heilongqiang and Jilin forms Dongbei. This is modern day Manchuria, whose people the Manchus once ruled China for 300 years under the Qing Dynasty.

Dalian was leased to Tzarist Russia by the Qing Court towards the end of the 19th Century which explains why a part of the city is so European like. It was subsequently colonized by the Japanese for 40 years culminating with the surrender of Japan in 1945.

Today Dalian is also considered as China's most liveable city with a booming economy, good infrastructure, incredible seafood and great weather. 40 kms away from Dalian lies is Lushun (aka Port Arthur), China's largest naval base.

Dalian Cityscape

City Center

Old and New, Zhongshan Square

Zhongshan Park

Zhongshan Square

Downtown Dalian

Friendship Square

Poets Walk, Xinghai Park

Downtown Dalian at Night

Zhongshan Square in the Night

Century Plaza Shopping Mall

Dalian's "Toot too" 3 wheeler cab.

Russian Street

Russian Square

Russian Square

Russian Street

Orthodox Church

Peace Tower

A Suspension Foot Bridge

Xinghai Square

Labor Park

Seaside Pavilion

An old Lighthouse

A Chinese Frigate outside the harbor

High Speed locomotive to Beijing

Floating Castle, Kingdom of Discovery

Beachfront

Bikinis Galore in modern day China

The Women of Xinjiang

Believe you me, these are the women of Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China. Located in Central Asia, the ethnic minorities comprise half of Xinjiang's population. The other half being Han Chinese. Although they don't look Chinese, they are Chinese citizens and most of them speak flawless Mandarin. I remembered asking one Uygur woman if she speaks Putonghua (Mandarin) and she proudly told me, "Hui, wo shi Zhongguo ren ma."

The majority of the ethnic groups are Uygurs, followed by Kazakhs, Hui then the Kirzigs, Mongolians and Tajiks. There are nine million Uygurs in Xinjiang. Islam is a dominant religion amongst the ethnic minorities. Xinjiang is where the Silk Route traversed.

Dedicated to the Big Butt Bitch

The Diomede Island in the Bering Straits

Map shows Russia on the left and the United States on the right.

This is as close as you can get between Russia and the United States. About 3 km of water separates the Diomede Islands located in the Bering Straits. The Big Diomede is Russian territory and the Little Diomede is part of Alaska, USA.

The islands are separated by an International border and also the International Dateline which sits 1.5 kms away from each island. Big Diomede is Russia's easternmost point while Little Diomede is the westernmost point in the United States. Residents in the Little Diomede, numbering only a few hundreds are of Inalikmiut Eskimo origin.

In this picture, the US is on the left, Russia is on the right..