May 28th, 2012-Leaving Dandong/Eating Dog Meat

• Expired bread for breakfast this morning
• I didn’t feel like paying 15 RMB for breakfast at Hanting Express and I know that there’s always people around with little food carts in China wherever I go and even though China’s food inspection isn’t on par with America’s, I figured I’ll try my luck
• I decided to go into this food mart and I just bought a piece of plastic wrapped short bread for 5 RMB thinking, “alright, I know that this can’t kill me” and so I was about to dig into it but then I noticed that it had expired 2 days ago
• I was about to take it back but then I thought about all the handrails I’ve touched, street food I’ve eaten, and hands I’ve shaken while in China and I thought I’ll be fine so I ate it all (it was about the size of a manly man’s fist) and there was no mold on it so I felt safe
• Had to get a girly umbrella
• So I saw that it was supposed to rain in Baihe/Heaven Lake when I go there on May 29th and seeing that I lost my umbrella I had to find another one
• Well I don't exactly know of any "umbrella stores" in Dandong but luckily the hotel I was staying in sold them for 30 RMB but all they had were girly designs and I tried to find the least girliest
• Hopefully I can get away with it because I'm going for the whole "3M Scotch Tape salesman" look but...I don't think that will work

• getdentalimplantsinfo.com likes my blog
• I was checking the sources of traffic for my blog this morning and one person was referred to this website by, and I’m not joking,  getdentalimplantsinfo.com
• Testing the limits of the iron Spencer stomach
• Today for lunch I had 3 fried eggs on a stick, a plate of dog meat, and clams and oysters along with a big bottle of beer

• • Met  Zheng Jingui 郑金贵at a North Korean restaurant 
  • So I heard that you can get dog meat here in Dandong and I just had to try it so I went down to the tourist wharf to try and find an authentic North Korean restaurant
  • If anyone is ever interested, you can check to make sure that you’re at a North Korean restaurant by looking for Chinese and North Korean flags above the window (I thought I would just look for starving people based on the years of American propaganda I’ve seen but apparently that’s not the case)
  • So I was trying to order dog meat with my crummy Chinese (I had to confirm to this girl that I was ordering dog meat by going “woof woof” with the lady) and I got to the dog meat but she couldn’t understand that my order was done and Jingui came over and helped me
  • Jingui was a real nice guy, he was in China to interview for a job (and it’s so coincidental that social science majors in both the US and China have a hard time finding jobs)
  • Engineering ftw
  • The dog meat was pretty good but at 65 yuan it was pretty expensive for an entrée
  • It was worth it just once and to see what real North Koreans look like (they wear lots of white make-up) so I’d recommend eating dog meat at least once (as long as it’s legal in your place of residence) 
  • I'm sure it's not Lassie or Old Yeller either, there would be more meat if it was

• So we had lunch and we walked around Dandong because we had so much free time and he told me all about China’s problems
• He says there’s too many people here but I tried to console him saying, “but hey, now you have more chances to marry a good Chinese woman!”
• He said, “Oh yes, Chinese women are very good. They’re beautiful and they cook very well”
• Beer, clams, and beef on way to train station
• So I was walking, minding my own business after leaving Jingui and here are these two fat guys and a skinny guy sitting on the street saying, “sit down, sit down” kind of looking like people who had been convicted of assault and battery at some point in their lives
• So of course I sit down and they pop me open a beer, start asking me questions, and feeding me oysters, clams, and beef on an open bit BBQ

• • At first I refused the beer but the beer looked so refreshing and seeing that it was a BBQ I just had to enjoy it
  • It was actually really good beer, it was something called Bang beer but it was really strong because an hour after I finished this huge bottle I was ready for a nap 
• Chinese people will feed you until your stomach bursts
• On the train ride from Dandong to Baihe, I share a little section with 5 other people where we sleep and in my section this time were 3 older woman who would not stop feeding me delicious food (with the exception of this mini-hot dog with cheese which I would not recommend)
• They were really fun to try to talk with in Chinese, luckily they were a chatty bunch so I just sat there and listened to what sounded like them complaining about their latest ailments (just like old people in America!)