DALIAN

Dalian was one of those ports where you asked yourself – what is there to do here and why is this a port?  Following the 2 great Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing, the question seems a valid one.  I knew nothing about this port city.  Joyce, the tour leader here, again worked with Jeff of Beijing Discovery Tours.  She had a bus of 28 fellow cruise critic members to lead around the city.  She planned and “off the beaten track” kind of tour.  Her itinerary included: Zhongshan Square, the Beida Bridge, Xinghai Square, Laohutan Scenic Park, Russian Culture Street and ended at a Dalian local market, very similar to the backstreets on my Shanghai area.

I was able to answer my own question posed above – why this port.  I found out, much to my surprise, Dalian is the largest Chinese port and one of the most beautiful cities we visited.  I found the traffic was almost orderly by Chinese standards.  And it was clean and the people very friendly in our walks around the various parks and squares we visited.  Would I return, yes, in a heartbeat. 

We departed the port for the short ride into the city.  Our tour guide today was Celine, a very nice young lady who was a tour guide part time.  That did not take away from her enthusiasm or knowledge. 



Joe - boys will always be litte boys!

We headed to one of the parks where there is an aquarium and a lot of people out flying kites.  The kids were out in full force and I caught some of them with their kites as well as many people selling them. 

Xinghai Park followed where the new foot sculpture celebrating the city’s 100 year anniversary.  This sculpture is so unique, because the “models” were actual residents.  It shows all the footprints of them starting from the very old and graduating to the smallest.  At the end, close to the ocean, is a monument of 2 small children.  Very pretty.

Footprints - not quite in the sand

We moved on the Russian Culture area.  It was filled with souvenir shops full of “stuff” from Russian.  A funny shopping place when we would be in Vladivostok in later in the cruise.  But it was worth the walk for the architecture of the buildings.



A stroll down Russian Market Street



Local market

We ended the day with a stop at a local market.  As I mentioned, this was similar to the one I had in Shanghai.  It was filled with food stands ranging from fruits to vegetables to fish to cooked meals. 

Another good tour in a great city. 

Handsome little boy riding horse