Tiger Beach

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Pictures were taken in August 

After Arturo did his crazy bungee jump ( pictures shown in previous post ) we went to Tiger Beach, it was on the way home.  What really caught our attention were these really cool gigantic tigers.
Not much else to tell about Tiger Beach unfortunately since we were only there for a short time but we still wanted to share the photos.




There were many kites in the area but none of them were like this one guy's kite.  As you can see below this kite goes for miles.  We've never seen anything like it before so our mouths were wide opened. lol :)



Golden Pebble Beach- Dalian

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We try to do as much exploring as possible on the weekends.  This beach is only 20 minutes from our house.  This particular weekend Arturo wanted to be gutsy and try grilled squid for the first time.  I ( Maria) have tried squid before but never like this.  The legs are all over the place and bottom line it does not look appetizing!  I couldn't believe my ears when Arturo said he wanted to try it.  To my surprise he actually liked it.  He also tried this long looking fish ( picture below) and also liked it.  As for me, I didn't like the fish because it had teeny tiny bones, which for the record Arturo ate.  I didn't enjoy the squid because it was way too chewy and just the look of it made my stomach curl.  ha ha





Got to admit I was proud of the guy for trying it!




This was what I ( Maria) ordered.  I know what your probably thinking, that doesn't look any better right?  Truth is, it wasn't.  If you don't know what it is yet, it's clams and oysters.  A guy warms it up for you on a grill and then serves it plain.  No lemon, no salt, no sauce of any kind!  Way too fishy I gotta say!



Besides Golden Pebble Beach being a good area for exploring different types of food, it also has some really beautiful scenic spots.
These are just some of the surrounding areas.



What a beach looks like in China with no people.
This picture was taken in the morning on a weekday before anyone showed up for the beach rush hour.




Tom the Chef!

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So our driver Lian- Zeng (English name Tom) came over to our house to teach me ( Maria) how to make Kung-Pao Chicken.  Mmmm
This is him getting ready to do some REAL cooking!


Mixing the chicken in egg an flower.


Frying the peanuts.


All the ingredients cut up and ready to mix.





Mmmmm good!


Someone couldn't wait! lol

Recipe:

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 7 to 8 ounces each
  • Marinade:
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • Sauce:
  • 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Other:
  • 8 small dried red chili peppers
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 green onions (spring onions, scallions)
  • 4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
  • 1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorn, optional
  • 1/2 cup peanuts or cashews
  • a few drops sesame oil, optional

Preparation:

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Combine with the marinade ingredients, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 25 minutes.


While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce and vegetables: In a small bowl, combine the dark soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. Set aside.

Cut the chilies in half so that they are approximately the same size as the chicken cubes. Remove the seeds. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Cut the green onion on the diagonal into thirds.

Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Stir-fry until it turns white and is 80 percent cooked. Remove from the wok.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the chili peppers and the Szechuan peppercorn if using. Stir-fry briefly until they turn dark red.

Add the sauce to the wok. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken back into the pan. Stir in the peanuts and the green onion. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil. Serve hot.




A Day in Benxi

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Benxi like Dalian is located in the Liaoning Province of China, Southeast of Shenyang.  Benxi has the longest underground water cave in Asia, which was hollowed out about 5 million years ago.
  As you can see in the above picture the entrance is a huge portal, about 25m wide and 7m high.  Right behind the entrance follows a huge chamber with a pier big enough for 40 boats.  The cave river is really enormous, with an average production of 230 liters per second.  the river is up to 7m deep and the passage is up to 38m and 50m wide.  They also found 3000 year old human remains.
It definitely was one of the best and most interesting places we have gone to thus far.

To learn more about Benxi's Water Cave you can go to http://www.luopan.com/t/en_US/117000L000001.html

Before we go to the water part of the cave, we had to walk through a huge tunnel.  Then they get you on a boat (may we mention the boat was jammed packed like everywhere else in China lol) and it takes about 45 minutes to get to the end of the cave and back.

Inside the cave.
They had it all lit up with different colored lights.


It was a beautiful sight to see.  We felt so lucky to see such a wonder.





Dinosaurs

The Benxi National Park also has Fossilized Tree Trunks.  Very cool!

Surrounding area.  Very beautiful!



Beautiful view, we just had to take a picture.

Just to share with you guys we were planning on spending the night in Benxi but had no luck finding a hotel room.  We made the mistake of traveling on a huge Chinese Holiday, Moon Cake Festival and did not book a room in advance.  We went to 8 hotels looking for rooms at nine o'clock at night.  Some were 5 star hotels and some were NO STAR HOTELS, which by the way, the NO STAR hotels didn't except foreigners.  Which we then later found out that hotels have to obtain a license to service foreigners.  We felt so discriminated ha ha ! :( j/k  We probably didn't want to stay at those places anyway.  We heard horror stories.
So then we had to have our poor driver Tom, drive home for about 5 hours all because we couldn't find a damn hotel.
Moral of the story: assure a bed to sleep before you leave on a trip dumb ass!