Exploring Dalian

Zhongshan Square

I have to pay D for the expenses that he had incurred on my behalf in China (whereas he had to pay me for those in Russia).  He preferred to be paid in China in CNY rather than back in New Zealand in NZD.

That suited me well and we rocked up around 0900 to the Bank of China in old city centre of Zhongshan Square to withdraw the cash for him.  The square is flanked in all directions by Japanese era western-style buildings quite commonly seen in Japan and Taiwan.

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We went to a hole-in-the-wall kind of place for breakfast that had come highly-recommended on social media.  I think the younger generation don’t simply go to a place they see on the street but rely on social media and reviews.  It was good but greasy.  I particularly liked the pancake filled with shredded potatoes.

From there, we went to a park where there was a historic tram from the Japanese era.  A friendly local said that the historic tram was not airconditioned and it looked chocka-block.  Not good in the extreme heat.

Japanese-era tram.

We waited together until a modern tram came and I went with the friendly local while D did his own thing with a car friend.

Incidentally, I read later that during the Japanese era, trams were colour-coded.  One set for Japanese and the rich, and another set for the lowly!

Japanese & Russian streets

I explored the Japanese-style street around Tongren Street before taking a long walk in the heat to the historic Russian-style street on the other side of the city centre.

It was so hot that I had to take break in the Pavilion Mall and buy an iced coffee along the way.

The Russian-style street had a few authentic buildings but the rest of the buildings were just regularly contemporary ones cashing in on the Russian theme by selling Russian-themed products.

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Overall, I had an eclectic taste of Dalian’s Japanese and Russian architecture this morning.  I returned to the hotel around 1245 to keep cool during the hottest part of the day.

Exploring by car

D’s newfound car friend very nicely included me in their dinner plan of a north-east style hot pot.

After dinner, he kindly drove us around the various scenic points of the city.  Coincidentally, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf which I had considered visiting yesterday.  This is a functioning fishing wharf that’s been built in an early 20^th Century east coast USA village.

From there we dropped into Laohutan (Tiger Beach), Beida Bridge before driving on the 6.8km double-decker bridge over the large southern bay area.  The bridge alleviates traffic around Dalian’s coastal built-up areas.  I learnt that it is supplemented by a 5.1km underwater tunnel. China doesn’t skimp on infrastructure to keep the large population moving.

I was grateful to have received such nice hospitality towards the end of my stay in China.