Sightseeing in Dalian

Monday, March 23

After lunch we took a car around the city to see what Dalian was like. It was pretty amazing to see all the buildings, signs, and people (John and I have been fascinated with the signs here - we love the randomness to the asian advertising!)


This is a Carefour - a French Super store (kind of like our Wal-mart) They do have a couple Walmarts in Dalian, but they are not really like our Wal-marts at home. Carefour is pretty neat inside, the lower levels have seperate mall like shops selling goods and the upstairs have open wal-mart like atmosphere.

Here is a McDonalds (They are all over Hong Kong and Dalian)


We got to go to the ocean side which was so beautiful. There we saw "The Book" which is a giant concrete slab slightly curved at each end. There are no other markings to indicate it is a book (words, spine, etc) it is just it's abstract shape that looks book-like.

It is kinda hard to see, but in the distance you can see "The Book"
This is a close up of one side of The Book

This is John and I standing on "The Book" This was in the same "Square" as The Book, we didn't knwo what it was, but thought it was really funny!


The Ocean was amazing with boats of all sizes and the many small islands dotting the water.

Then we went up to a castle which was a shell museum. We did not go in, but the outside was really cool looking. their pictures made (brides here change dresses and locations many times for their pictures). We saw one bride, but I guess in the fall you will see them all over the place. In the Fall time lots of Brides come here to have pictures made.
Far view of the Shell Castle This is us at the Shell Castle with the water view behind us.


It is important to note that Dalian is a fairly new city, there is not the really old structures you will see in other places. Just 100 years ago it was just a fishing village and none of these buildings were here.
You can see how built up the city has become

We also drove around and saw a fairly secluded place where our hosts do "dunking" during the warmer time of year - the rest of the time it is too cold to get in the water! Down arround the side of the water is where they do "Dunking"

We also saw a bridge built by the Japanese as a token of friendship and some type of amusement park with psudo disney characers.
This is as we are crossing the Japaneese Bridge

We stopped at the Shangri la hotel to use the restroom (they had actual toliets there!) and it was very beauitful inside. While waiting on the others, we saw someone serving tea in the dining room. He had a teapot with a long spout, 3 or 4 feet long. She swong the pot around over his head, behind his back, and finally tipped it gracefully into the small cup - it was quite amazing!

Overall, it was pretty neat to see not only how different everything was, but how simmilar as well!