Dalian!
After realizing that we only had five weeks left in Weihai, Allyssa and I decided that we better make the most of our time and get to those places we had been talking of visiting since we got here. We assembled a real motley crew, featuring the two of us as well as a French teacher, a Korean teacher, and another American teacher. I had heard several people praise the city of Dalian, with one even saying it was her favorite city in China. With that in mind, we booked tickets on the overnight ferry from Weihai, departing at 9:30pm and arriving at 4:30pm the next day.
Pictures of the ferry, though this is actually our return ferry. The first one was newer and nicer and a little larger.
And the "toilets":
Morning port:
I brought a book to read, but mostly we just talked and listened to music before we tried to sleep, and I only read two pages of the book the entire weekend. We were awakened by a very loud Chinese woman banging on our door with a wooden spoon, and perhaps I felt a bit more threatened than I should have been, as it was before 5am. We made our way off the boat and walked to a park for breakfast. One of the reasons Dalian is so praised is because its previous mayor ushered in a green revolution in the city, building parks and squares and generally trying to clean things up. This means that people now actually have places to gather and associate, something that is rare in China.
Old men stretching on a park fence. I'm glad the railing isn't higher.
Taiji in a park:
Though it can still be pretty polluted, it was pretty clean compared to the rest of China, and I think it has been named the best place to live in China. And because of its history including long occupations by both Japan and Russia, it also has interesting architecture, and its skyline probably ranks in China's top 5, behind Shanghai and Hong Kong and maybe a few others.
Below, the sun rising on the Eiffel Tower:
Zhongshan Guangchang, the main square in the city:
And one of the most garish "castles" I've ever seen. It's actually a museum for shells. This fact confuses me even more. How many shells could you possible have in a museum?
TV shows and advertisements are actually shown on the side of this tower:
As I've said before, when China realizes it has something good going, it often overreacts, turning a tourist attraction into something so obscene that people no longer desire to visit it (see previous post on Terra Cotta Soldiers). This is exactly what Dalian has done with its old Russian Quarter. Now it looks more like Disney World:
As we discovered while strolling, people in Dalian even stand in lines! Apart from Beijing on the 11th of each month (the 1's remind people to stand in straight lines), I have not encountered real, observed lines anywhere in China. Hooray, Dalian! This is one of the most frustrating things about living in China, and perhaps this is why I enjoyed Dalian so much. Respect!
As clean as Dalian is, though, we still managed to see several Chinese babies wearing the infamous split pants. As I've said before, this makes it possible for children to simply pee and poo on the street as they please.
Most of the time we simply walked around the city. It was nice to have a change of scenery, even if it didn't entail doing anything particularly touristy. We ate food (starfish, sea urchins, squid, clams, etc:
And watched a Chinese version of something like American Idol. The singers were just as bad, maybe even worse:
And watched these tiny three-wheelers go by:
There were plenty of places to shop, but I refrained from buying too much beyond a few wacky souvenirs because I need to save money for the rest of my weekend trips.
Spoons for sell under a tent:
Ahhhhhhh! Attacks of the Russian keychain dolls!
Meanwhile, these two are suffocating:
A wacky Chinese billboard advertising an aquarium. I'm pretty sure it's photoshopped:
I didn't have enough money to shop here (sorry, Mom):
But I did find the "Good Food" aka "Imported Food" (are those synonymous at this point?) section in a supermarket:
We also managed to find a foreign bookstore, but perhaps the sections of the store featuring English materials indicate why my students' English still has a distinctly Chinese feel. At one point a worker demanded that I stopped taking photos; she had a lot of gall considering I have my picture taken several times daily, usually without my knowing it, simply because I'm a foreigner. That, and the fact that I'm sick of people tell me not to take pictures for stupid reasons, made me more determined.
Where else would you study abroad?
It's so crazy, it's spelled "crary"!
Maybe the reason my Chinese isn't fluent is because I've been studying "chinses".
Not sure about this one:
Or this one:
On our second day in Dalian, we spent more time outside. One of the more interesting things we encountered was a Chinese wedding chapel.
As I've mentioned before, weddings in China are even more so a reason for the bride to be pampered than in the US. We saw several dozen couples, all receiving the same exact treatment. It really was like a wedding factory. Pictures in the weeds?
Check.
Pictures on the beach?
Check.
Pictures with the doves?
Check.
Is it traditional to wear jeans under your wedding dress? Maybe it's a cultural thing. Or maybe she didn't have time to take them off because she was being rushed through so many pictures.
The rest of our time we spent walking along the coast, which was actually much more beautiful than any of the beaches were appealing.
I also encountered this spider. I don't think I'd ever seen one before.
Squeal like a penguin!
I will eat you alive and use your bones for toothpicks.
Pictures of the ferry, though this is actually our return ferry. The first one was newer and nicer and a little larger.
And the "toilets":
Morning port:
I brought a book to read, but mostly we just talked and listened to music before we tried to sleep, and I only read two pages of the book the entire weekend. We were awakened by a very loud Chinese woman banging on our door with a wooden spoon, and perhaps I felt a bit more threatened than I should have been, as it was before 5am. We made our way off the boat and walked to a park for breakfast. One of the reasons Dalian is so praised is because its previous mayor ushered in a green revolution in the city, building parks and squares and generally trying to clean things up. This means that people now actually have places to gather and associate, something that is rare in China.
Old men stretching on a park fence. I'm glad the railing isn't higher.
Taiji in a park:
Though it can still be pretty polluted, it was pretty clean compared to the rest of China, and I think it has been named the best place to live in China. And because of its history including long occupations by both Japan and Russia, it also has interesting architecture, and its skyline probably ranks in China's top 5, behind Shanghai and Hong Kong and maybe a few others.
Below, the sun rising on the Eiffel Tower:
Zhongshan Guangchang, the main square in the city:
And one of the most garish "castles" I've ever seen. It's actually a museum for shells. This fact confuses me even more. How many shells could you possible have in a museum?
TV shows and advertisements are actually shown on the side of this tower:
As I've said before, when China realizes it has something good going, it often overreacts, turning a tourist attraction into something so obscene that people no longer desire to visit it (see previous post on Terra Cotta Soldiers). This is exactly what Dalian has done with its old Russian Quarter. Now it looks more like Disney World:
As we discovered while strolling, people in Dalian even stand in lines! Apart from Beijing on the 11th of each month (the 1's remind people to stand in straight lines), I have not encountered real, observed lines anywhere in China. Hooray, Dalian! This is one of the most frustrating things about living in China, and perhaps this is why I enjoyed Dalian so much. Respect!
As clean as Dalian is, though, we still managed to see several Chinese babies wearing the infamous split pants. As I've said before, this makes it possible for children to simply pee and poo on the street as they please.
Most of the time we simply walked around the city. It was nice to have a change of scenery, even if it didn't entail doing anything particularly touristy. We ate food (starfish, sea urchins, squid, clams, etc:
And watched a Chinese version of something like American Idol. The singers were just as bad, maybe even worse:
And watched these tiny three-wheelers go by:
There were plenty of places to shop, but I refrained from buying too much beyond a few wacky souvenirs because I need to save money for the rest of my weekend trips.
Spoons for sell under a tent:
Ahhhhhhh! Attacks of the Russian keychain dolls!
Meanwhile, these two are suffocating:
A wacky Chinese billboard advertising an aquarium. I'm pretty sure it's photoshopped:
I didn't have enough money to shop here (sorry, Mom):
But I did find the "Good Food" aka "Imported Food" (are those synonymous at this point?) section in a supermarket:
We also managed to find a foreign bookstore, but perhaps the sections of the store featuring English materials indicate why my students' English still has a distinctly Chinese feel. At one point a worker demanded that I stopped taking photos; she had a lot of gall considering I have my picture taken several times daily, usually without my knowing it, simply because I'm a foreigner. That, and the fact that I'm sick of people tell me not to take pictures for stupid reasons, made me more determined.
Where else would you study abroad?
It's so crazy, it's spelled "crary"!
Maybe the reason my Chinese isn't fluent is because I've been studying "chinses".
Not sure about this one:
Or this one:
On our second day in Dalian, we spent more time outside. One of the more interesting things we encountered was a Chinese wedding chapel.
As I've mentioned before, weddings in China are even more so a reason for the bride to be pampered than in the US. We saw several dozen couples, all receiving the same exact treatment. It really was like a wedding factory. Pictures in the weeds?
Check.
Pictures on the beach?
Check.
Pictures with the doves?
Check.
Is it traditional to wear jeans under your wedding dress? Maybe it's a cultural thing. Or maybe she didn't have time to take them off because she was being rushed through so many pictures.
The rest of our time we spent walking along the coast, which was actually much more beautiful than any of the beaches were appealing.
I also encountered this spider. I don't think I'd ever seen one before.
Squeal like a penguin!
I will eat you alive and use your bones for toothpicks.
posted by Mysteries of The Orient at 7:09 AM
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