Dalian, China

I spent the weekend in Dalian, a city in northern China on the coast. It is a very nice city - I would recommend it for a weekend. When I arrived in 2005, one of the China magazines rated it the top place to live in China. The weather is moderate, it is still affordable, and it has a very nice coastline full of wild flowers.

My only hesitation regarding permanent residence is that I didn't see any expat hangouts. These come in pretty handy when you are having a China day and can't bear the thought of another goat stomach or chicken feet lunch. I'm sure western restaurants exist, but we are very spoiled in Shanghai. We have everything - excellent Thai, Indian, diners, French, Italian, German, English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, US BBQ. There are a few Mexican joints, but I wouldn't call them excellent, or particularly good. That goes for German too, but that is just my prejudice against the culinary form as a whole.

Luckily, Dalian locals still enjoy the Chinese tradition of the car brawl. Pushing, shoving, yelling for what seems like hours while the two cars are parked in the middle of the intersection making it virtually impossible to get around them.

While there I ran a 1/2 marathon. Had to sign up for the full marathon because the only 1/2 they were offering was limited to wheelchair participants - not so good on the ego. So I ran my 21.xxx k and quit. I am now promising myself that I will quit doing 1/2 marathons where the temperature is over 75 degrees. I could have fried an egg on my head.