5 October 2010 ~ Starbucks, George Clooney, and Mao Zedong

After exploring Beiling Park until about 1:00 pm, Claire and I headed back to the New World Hotel, our home away from home (away from home) for two nights. We checked on Nancy, who was feeling much better. Thank goodness the bug we were passing around only lasted 24 hours.

Another room with a view...

...of a lot of construction. Everywhere one goes in China, construction, construction, construction. 65% of the world's cranes are in here China. Here are two of them hard at work.

Claire had yet to find a much needed cup of coffee since we left Campus Village on Friday. She had gone four days without caffeine and was not a happy camper about this, so when we saw a Starbucks on the way back from Beiling Park, we memorized the route back!

Nancy and I are not coffee drinkers, so hot chocolate was our drink of choice. I must say, I'm not a Starbucks goer, but waking into this place was like walking into home...

...with George Clooney and all!

A very contented Claire!

Nancy and Claire headed back to the hotel and I started walking in order to check out the sights and sounds of Shenyang. We had driven by this incredible statue of Mao Zedong and I was determined to find it and have a closer look at this very imposing figure.

This 10 meter high statue of Chairman Mao Zedong was built in 1969 in the middle of Zhongshan Square to memorialize the leader of the People's Republic of China from 1949 to his death in 1976. The statue is surrounded by figures depicting students, peasants, and soldiers waving a copy of the Little Red Book: Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong.

There was quite a bit of violence depicted in the statue and I tried to focus on the peaceful parts.

The statue is in the middle of a roundabout with six major street feeding into it. Crossing into the middle was quite a challenge. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, so it was like playing a game of Frogger!

Just as I was about to head back to the hotel, the skies cleared and the sun shone bright on Mao's face.

The way back to the hotel...

I decided to take a different route back other than the main road. Only one block away from the statue and I found myself in a very different world.

Men on bikes...and wheel chairs? The guy in the orange jacket had a contraption that was half bike and half wheelchair. I found myself wondering about the story behind its construction.

All in all, Claire, Nancy and I had a fabulous October break journeying out into this incredible country to witness first hand her diverse culture and peoples.

I really do love living here.