What a snowy day in Dalian, China. When the ship arrived at port we were surprised by a winter wonderland. Let it show, let it snow let it snow. More like a blizzard for us anyhow, we spent the morning at a senior center where the seniors from the local community get together and make crafts. That is one thing I am impressed. The Chinese don’t typically ship their old folks off to a home; generally the family and the local community take care of them. That is something that is nice and refreshing to see. All throughout our travels, we always seem to see the old folks out in the morning either ballroom dancing in the local park or doing some type of activity. It was good to see some of them keeping their local customs with the crafts they make, and hopefully it won’t get lost in the generations.
Next we traveled off to see the XingShai Square. I think I spelled that right, it’s 4 times larger them Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It’s always to see the large public works project always clean and well taken care of. The snow masked lots of things but what we did see was still very impressive.
From there we went and had some lunch, which was actually pretty good. Ollie is still working on his chopstick skills, but the restaurant provided a great selection of local items, that most folks were willing to try. I however gobbled it all up.
From there we went to the Polar Aquarium. It was really neat to see the animals from the polar region. We say some whales, walrus’s, penguins and polar bears. Lots of great animals and a great dolphin show.
From there we did a wintery drive of the city and made it back to the ship on the last tour bus, as always.
No sprite so far, but I do have a few leads that I will be tracking down. Always on the hunt. On another note, I have been going to the gym every day and doing lots of cardio. I med a pledge to Brandi and I would go every night, as long as I was able to eat want I wanted. Sounds fair right?
Tomorrow we will be headed to Tianjin, which is the port for Beijing. It will be a long ride to Beijing, so we will see how Ollie does. So far he has done well. We have only had one old bitty say anything bad about him. Granted she is a northeastern democrat with 6 bathrooms, and room for a pony (think Mrs. Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances). She made a comment about how her children’s always are so far away with their jobs etc., 30 seconds of listening to her I would live far away as well.
Beyond that, it’s been a good trip. Looking forward to Beijing. It will be our second time, Ollie’s first. New things to see, and new experiences to be had.
I will be constantly updating our photo gallery at http://www.brian.net/brian/asia
