Advertisement
Published: March 27th 2013
When I booked this cruise, I hadn’t heard of the city of Dalian. Now I’m here and I find that it is the fourth largest city in China with a population of about 7.8 million and operating at a much easier pace than Shanghai and Beijing. Dalian is an ice free port in the north of China that was occupied by both Japan and Russia during the early 20th century and architectural influences of both occupiers remain. Dalian is on the Yellow sea and has nice looking beach areas even though it is so far north. Interesting neighborhoods are apparent and make this look like a very livable large city.
One of the highlights of the tour I was on was a visit to an elementary school with exceptionally talented students. The ages were from five to about twelve and the children had an opportunity to show their skills from piano and other musical instruments to voice and dance. The children greeted their visitors warmly and tied bandanas around our neck as a welcoming gesture. The experience far exceeded my expectations. We then went to several parks and took pictures from scenic vantage points. I talked with several people that
had taken the tour which ended with time spent in a local Chinese family’s home. They felt that was a great experience.
The national bird, the construction crane, was evident hovering above several high rise buildings and, when looking in the sky, I saw several high flying kites. I was tempted to buy one and street vendors were eager to sell, but I resisted the temptation. Later, during happy hour, I was talking to a Dutchman who informed me he was a sailing instructor and made me aware of some sailing ships that you can sign on as a crewmember and they accept passengers of all skill levels. Sounds interesting.
Our tour guide was a young, single lady with good English language skills who made no secret of her frustration with the problem of finding a boyfriend with a house so she could get married. Tomorrow is the last sea day and then Busan, Korea
Advertisement
Tot: 0.242s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0693s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
