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SEPTEMBER
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JANUARY
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MARCH
TITLE: ANOTHER FORBIDDEN CITY
LOCATION: SHENYANG
MISSION: SIGHTSEEING
DATE: 2011-11-13
Through an acquaintance I got to know Grisha (Gregory Borisovych Koshelenko) from the Ukraine, in Liaoyang on a two-year contract. He was going to Shenyang to visit the university of friend and asked me if I wanted to come along. Since I had not seen anything of Shenyang apart form its northern train station, I thought, why not? We met up with Jin Xin (金鑫, wearing pink) in Liaoyang and together took the bus to Shenyang where we met Wang Jiani (王佳妮, wearing yellow) and Zhu Junjun (祝君君, wearing green). Our first stop was Zhongshan Square (中山广场) and the Mao-statue. Next stop was Liaoning University, the second best university among the 100 or so colleges in Shenyang. We toured the campus and found a bunch of students getting ready to take their graduation photograph outside the library. Grisha (or Greg) insisted on getting his picture taken in front of them, to the cheers and laughter of the students. Leaving the campus we headed towards the main attraction of the day: the Forbidden City! I have not read up on the history, but for some reason Shenyang also has a forbidden city, although roughly (very roughly) a fifth of the size of its sibling in Beijing. It is already really cold in Shenyang so there were just a few people visiting the forbidden city, which was just fine by me. Even though Shenyang is located just 100 km north of Liaoyang it is noticeable colder, I am guessing at least 2-3 degrees. The palace was beautiful, of perfect size for an afternoon stroll and you were allowed to visit all the buildings and courtyards. Despite the cold we were very lucky with the weather: a brilliant blue sky and golden light in the evening as the sun set. Oh, and if ever get to downtown Shenyang, avoid a place called 欧罗巴 (Europea?). We went there to get me a coffe to go to fight the cold. I got it, but not before waiting for 20 minutes, reminding the waitress 5 times and threatening to leave with my money. It wasn't like I ordered a whole bunch of custom dishes, it was just an ordinary cup of coffe. Worst service ever.