Shenyang

Ok this is my entry for Shenyang I know I was here for a while but not intentionally, as there is very little to do in this city and was stupidly cold there may just be a lot of gibberish.
The train closed its doors and got underway. The train I was on was one of the new “D” trains very similar to the Japanese Bullet trains, just not quite as fancy from what I have heard people say about them. Never the less they still travel at a few hundred Kph and do the journey between Beijing and Shenyang in exactly three hours fifty nine minutes (yes I timed it as I was doubtful of my ticket, that said ‘journey time of 3.59’but it was dead on) with seats that had enough leg room for me and the little kid that kept walking between his dad to my right and grandparents behind me without any problem, on top of this the journey was comfortable and smooth so very pleased with it. Unfortunately as I sat on the train watching a movie on my laptop I kept seeing the information on the scrolling screen which among other things showed the outside temperature that was slowly dropping as we moved north starting at 1 °C but slowly it dropped below Freezing point and kept dropping till settling at a comfy -11 °C on arriving this meant there was a mad dig in my bag for extra layers. Walking through the freezing night air of the station platform I followed the crowd from the train to the exit and saw my lift and accommodation waiting for me after the barriers in the form of Kira. So after navigating the train station car park and bus terminal we hailed a cab, the only way of traveling around Shenyang due to a lack of buses plus no metro. The cab weaved its way through; red lights, gaps between walls and trucks more suitable for bikes than cars and horns blaring from all directions till finally after a U-turn on a huge crossroads we made it in one piece to Kira’s flat and dumped my stuff, made my bed on the couch, then headed off to the bar that I saw so much of and grew to love “The Green Mile” a cool relaxed place with cheap drinks overly generous measures of spirit and awesome people and the best pizza in Asia(courtesy of a yank justly named ‘pizza’ Steve). The Mile is a must go place if anyone gets to Shenyang.
If it wasn’t for spring festival my stay in Shenyang would have been much shorter, as said previously there is little to do in Shenyang but go to bars or other such places to chill. But, china struck again and the train to Xian, my next destination was booked up over a week ahead of when I wanted to go so was forced to stay in free accommodation and do what I do best, relax!

Drinking games at The Green Mile
Left to right; Tom, 'pizza' Steve, Casey, Kira, Jeanette

As I have said (more than once) there is little to do in Shenyang but what there was that interested me I did do. Firstly, the statue of Mao this is the largest in China and sits in the centre of a huge roundabout he is surrounded by soldiers (much similar to outside his mausoleum) and points out across the city I’m not sure what at but the Soldiers under him are fighting to go that way too. Secondly, the Qing (pronounced king) dynasty summer palace of the emperor this was very quiet and nowhere near as busy as the one in Beijing but was still pleasant and caked in history with a very rough past plus from what I under stood was damaged by fire, a fire lasting 3 weeks, and severely scarred by that. Thirdly, some of the parks but in the cold and ice were very little fun, dirty and very empty. Lastly the restaurants, in my time there I visited a fair few and one thing to conclude on Shenyang is it is a great place for nightlife, food and chilling out.
So eventually my time in Shenyang was coming to an end and after many; nights out, gatherings, parties and relaxed evenings at different bars and peoples apartments I put my cooking skills to use to do a thank you meal for Kira, for putting me up, Casey, for sorting me out at the mile (being the manager) and a couple of awesome nights at his awesome apartment, plus Tom, Ollie and Jeanette for showing me around and generally for a thank you, Which all went down a treat and justified as a good thank you.

Left to right; Kira, Casey, Tom, Ollie, Jeanete's plate

Finally the day of departure came around, after a hard night the previous evening spending little money, I awoke packed and bought the supplies for my 28 hour train to Xian then headed off to the station with no hassle or agro at the train station except the crowd which I kept clear of until the gate actually opened. As expected the train to Xian wasn’t as fancy as the “D” train to Shenyang but still comfortable enough while having a sleeper meant I could spread out, sleep and relax, EASY! The Journey was uneventful; I got used after 5 hours of a 13 year old boy constantly staring at me, got plenty of my journal written, read a large section of my book plus got a really high score on Pinball (and if you really want to know was over 10,000,000).
Pulling into Xian I joined in the mass exodus of the train and escaped into fresh air and began the next stage of my travels in Xian...
But that will be a separate entry coming shortly, take care.