Dalian, China – October 3, 2010
It’s now January 18th so writing this should be interesting. I’ll try and reconstruct something from my notes, if I find any, and the cruise port notes and my pictures, which I will be relying on substantially. I know I was looking forward to visiting Dalian (pronounced dah-lan with one syllable by some people but dah-lee-an with two syllables by most people I know) as Okanagan College has a partnership with school(s) here and I wanted to see what the area was like. It was raining while we were in this port but I still remember walking all over the city and really enjoying the visit. Now I just have to remember where exactly I walked and what I saw.
It was very dark and overcast as we approached the harbour at Dalian that morning. The city had many high rises along the water front and they all seemed to be brand new and they all looked the same. There were construction cranes everywhere throughout the city. Construction seemed to be the number one activity – more high rises, sports complexes, etc. - when you looked at the city from the water.
We docked along the pier and it appeared that there wasn’t more than a foot between the boat and the closest building on the pier. However, it did turn out to be much wider than that so we were able to walk to the end of the pier to meet the buses. There were people out to welcome us. The entertainers had outfits of light green, white and pink so very colourful. The greeters were mature ladies and very friendly but quite different than in other ports where the greeters/entertainers were generally young children.
In amongst the new high rises were older buildings and some of them were huge old stone buildings with decorations such as curved windows, columns, geometric and freestyle decorations on the stone, sculptures, etc. Most were a dark brick but some were lighter and at least one was a zebra effect of alternating white and beige. That building had round towers on each corner and corner domes as well as a central dome and a clock over the main entrance. I believe it was on Zhongshan Square but I no longer remember exactly what it was. One of the other buildings was now a Citibank building and it too was very impressive. It was a red brick with white decorations around the windows and corners. It also had round towers and a centre square tower with a clock on front. All of the buildings around the square were impressive and the “square” was really a circle. Part of it was closed off for construction work so I didn’t actually go into the circle but rather just walked around the circle as there were so many other things to see.
The streets were very wide and quite busy but the drivers were quite courteous so it was easy to get around as a pedestrian. Sometimes when we got shuttled into town I had to wonder if I would find my way back to the pick-up location but in Dalian our drop-off / pick-up point was a giant black golf ball structure. I don’t remember now what it was called but once you got in the right vicinity it was certainly easy to identify the pick-up point, especially since it was in the centre of another traffic circle (called a square) and thus easily seen from several directions.
On some streets in the city there were fantastic food markets and the fruits and vegetables looked delicious. I walked to Friendship Square (another circle), the train station (only because I missed a turn) and Victoria Square (don’t remember if it was really a square or if it too was a circle). I missed the pedestrian shopping street and didn’t even try the Russian street area, which is apparently quite unique, or the farmers market. We only had from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in port. I probably didn’t get downtown until at least 9 a.m. and the last shuttle was at 2 p.m. so five hours didn’t leave a lot of time to see all the sights. I chose to just walk around instead of doing any of the tours as they were all too specialized and only went to one sight or another. I think I made the right choice and it was certainly cheaper. I don’t think I spent a penny.
When I finally located where I was on the street map, I decided to walk to Labour Park and it was absolutely beautiful even though it was a dreary day. The flowers and landscaping certainly brightened the day and it was a real pleasure just to walk around and relax in the park which, understandably, was not very busy. The topiary trees and shrubs in red and yellow were especially lovely against the many shades of green. Many were quite natural in appearance but some were in the shape of animals and people – very colourful animals and people. The park also had a couple of large fan shaped structures with Chinese landscape paintings on a white background and these also looked lovely against the green background. The main flowers were mums like we normally see but some of them had incredibly long and lacy pedals while others had pedals that were more curled and thicker but I’m sure they were still mums. Entire walls and sections of the park were all done in flowers so it was wonderful to walk through. I’m looking at my pictures while I write this and I can assure you that I’m not doing justice in this blog. The pictures are stunning.
One part of the park was being used for a martial arts or tai chi demonstration or something of that type. There was lots of activity in that area and a panel of about 10 judges was adjudicating the performances, both individual and group. There were lovely little lakes and streams and pagodas throughout the park, and water lilies that were huge. Above the coloured flowers and the green trees you could still see the grey and white high rises but within the park it was total peace and quiet. Some of the areas like the rose garden were nice but not as colourful. I guess it wasn’t the right season for them. The park also had an observation tower at the one end and a small amusement park but I didn’t go that far as my time was limited.
When back in the concrete jungle I wandered into a shopping centre. I don’t normally do that as I hate shopping but it’s always nice to see what’s available. It was also nice to be somewhere warmer and drier! It was at least 6 stories high with a huge central atrium and glass elevators along the way. It was also very crowded and busy. Everyone was definitely buying and had bags of purchases. Well, everyone but me that is. There were lots of tables in the atrium of the mall and it was very crowded. I wondered if some of these were sometimes outside but had to come inside due to the rain. The hardy outdoor vendors had umbrellas up to keep themselves and their products dry but they definitely had fewer customers than the vendors indoors.
I found a large red brick church nestled amongst the high rises of the city. The interior of the church was very plain with white walls and big arches but it was still lovely. It might have seemed more ornate inside if the sun had been shining through the stained glass windows.
Once back on the ship and with a hot chocolate in hand, I enjoyed standing on deck as the Diamond Princess sailed out of the harbour. The skyline of Dalian is quite impressive and the harbour is huge. The opening to the harbour seemed almost too small but our great captain made it through easily. Once through the opening the seas immediately became rougher showing exactly what a safe harbour Dalian really is. There are actually two natural harbours in the area: one for commercial use and one for naval use. At one point in time the naval area was called Port Arthur which may be familiar to some of you.
Dalian has always been a major port in what is now north-east China. As a natural port it was a desirable location for anyone wanting to trade. In just the last 150 years the city has been under the control of the British, Chinese, Japanese, Russians (with help from the French and Germans), Japanese again and now the Chinese again. A lot of battles have been fought over the area. While under Russian control, Dalian was connected to the Trans-Siberian railway and thus had access to Europe by land, which increased its trading power even more. I guess this diversity of national backgrounds explains some of the large buildings in the city. The European and Russian influences are evident in the architecture – much more so than the Japanese or Chinese.
And that I think is all I can offer on Dalian, China at this time. Obviously I shall have to return and see more of the city on another trip to do it justice.
