Dalian, China - Day 21

After our exhausting day in Seoul with its ninety minute drive each way from the port of Inchon, our ship headed for our five stops in China.  We sailed northwest across Korea Bay to our first stop in Dalian.  Dalian is about 38 degrees north, 122 degrees east and is the second largest city in the Liaoning province.  The city has a significant history of being used by foreign powers as a port and appears at first to be very Russian-looking.

Our first encounter with Chinese efficiency was that Chinese immigration officials boarded our ship in Korea.  As soon as we left port, they began to pour through everyone’s passports and didn’t stop until we docked this morning.  As soon as we docked, we were given permission to disembark.  Way to go China!  This happy fellow ensured we walked quickly to our tour bus.

First up for the day, was a visit to People’s Square.  The size of this city is incredible.  There are towering new buildings going up everywhere including many that are residential.  The hawkers immediately caught wind that we were in the park and brought over their wares.

We then headed over to the Dalian Modern Museum.  Out front was a real estate bazaar which equates to what we would call the multiple listing.  New housing is hotter than hot here and if you were so inclined, you could stroll down the sidewalk, pick out your new apartment and move in by sunset.  The museum was in a very modern facility with most of the floors taken up with a history of the industrial revolution.  We walked quickly thorough all of this in order to reach the jewel of the top floor, a treasure trove of Chinese artifacts showcasing horse statuary.  Jeff was in heaven.  He rushed back downstairs to the museum shop hoping to find something but all they were selling was a lot of dust.

We then were off to walk around the immense Xinghai Park built to commemorate the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.  The shell-looking building below is exactly that, a shell museum still under construction.  Many different life-sized bronze statues dotted the landscape.  One moving memorial was the river of footprints showing 100 years of change.  The odd looking footprints were from older female citizens who had had their feet bound when they were young.

We stopped at Ocean World to see the beluga whale and porpoise show.  Even though the show was in Chinese, you could tell exactly what the emcee was saying just from the reaction from the enormous amount of children in the audience.

After getting a good flavor of the city, it was lunchtime.  We stopped at a local fish restaurant and were able to sample the delicious food.  The pot stickers were particularly yummy!

Our stop in Dalian was short and we headed back for the ship at 2:25pm.  Gangway up was at 2:30pm, so everyone was a little nervous that maybe we had stayed eating too long.  We made it back just in time and even the Chinese soldiers smiled at us welcoming us back.

China is big, big, and big.  Everywhere you look you find new construction.  Traffic in Dalian was crowded but not particularly bad.  I wonder what our next port stops will be like?  There probably would be no historical reason one would need to visit this city but it gave us a great sense of the power of a rising China.  I doubt we would ever return to Dalian but I have no doubt that the population is poised to easily double in the next few years.