Finishing our China Adventure – Dalian

We took the fast train to Dalian (long ago called Port Arthur) and were picked up by a driver hired by the QR2MSE Conference.  He took us to the Hilton which was comfortable and right across from the Convention Center where the conference was held.  We secured a room on the 22^nd floor and had just enough time to drop our bags before we were picked up for the VIP dinner.  This was in a private dining room of another hotel.  About 30 people mostly from Asia were in attendance.  The place settings were elaborate and the many servers dedicated to our dinner poured the wine (red) in about one ounce increments.  There was also the white liquor of China on offer (Randy had one of these but I declined in favor of the wine).  The dinner was elaborate but included chicken feet (yum!).  Apparently, the most expensive dish was a soup of mushrooms from pine trees ("Matsutake") served under a puff pastry.  The puff pastry was good, as all puff pastries are, but the mushrooms and soup didn’t seem to be anything special.  However, these mushrooms are highly prized in Japan, China and Korea and are extremely expensive.  In any case, it was a festive evening and we enjoyed meeting academics from the Czech Republic, Portugal and California.

A typical rural view as we sped from Shenyang to Dalian - lots of greenhouses and farmed fields (and murky skies as usual)

We spotted this sign as we were arriving to the Dalian main station

Alice was happy to see old friend Elsayed Elsayed at the VIP conference dinner on Tuesday evening

The conference organizer (in center) actually lives and works in Chengdu

More VIPs - in the yellow is Ming Zuo who invited me to serve as a keynote speaker at the conference

A dish we did not eat - chicken feet.  Unfortunately this spent most of the night in front of me so I had to gaze on it.

This was the most expensive dish of the night we were told  - a mushroom soup under puff pastry.  The mushrooms were the main attraction - some delicacy from pine trees called Matsutake in Japan.

I was the only female VIP of this group - though a few wives attended the dinner. Mostly from China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan but a sprinkling from North America and Europe.

We slept well in our super sized bed at the Hilton.  I breakfasted the next morning while Randy was laid low again by his kidney stone troubles.  I gave my keynote address to some 150+ people in the audience and they seemed generally receptive.  A basic buffet lunch followed.  I had booked a driver and English speaking guide through the conference organizers and Cuihua of Shenyang.  We met up at a little after 1 PM and Randy requested a fast food stop.  He got his wish at a close by Kentucky Fried Chicken and enjoyed his sandwich.  The guide, English name of Happy, was a bouncing lady whose childhood male friend she regards as a brother is studying at Auburn University in Chemistry Engineering (such a small world!).  He actually contacted us when we returned so we could meet up - another War Eagle moment!  

View from our hotel room - near the port and a newer area of high rise apartments and other high rise buildings

The audience at the conference on the opening morning on Wednesday

I was in full stride in my keynote address when Ming snapped this photo.  I am wearing the silk Chinese style jacket I purchased in the Stanley market in Hong Kong.

The attendees of the conference after the morning keynote addresses (I was the second of four)

The amazing architecture of the conference center where the conference was held - it was cavernous inside and not finished well (the bathrooms were terrible)

Randy got to visit one of his favorite U.S. restaurants in Dalian for a late lunch.  He is with our firecracker of a guide, Happy.

The menu inside was both familiar and a little strange.  Randy had an ordinary fried chicken sandwich.

She took us first to “Russian Street.”  This did not seem that interesting but it was about as interesting as it gets in Dalian.  We walked through and admired the colonial architecture (this time, Russian) and bargained for some gifts including Russian cigarettes.  We then reunioned with our driver and headed to “Japanese Street.”  This was of less interest.  The buildings did not seem exceptional in any way and there are no shops or commercial enterprises (maybe we should have appreciated that).  We stopped at an ATM to get some more RMB (the Chinese currency) but I made a mistake and we ended up with a lot more than we needed.  Anyway, we continued to see where the Sea Park was (we decided not to fight the crowds to see the aquarium and polar area exhibits) and then asked our driver to let us off to walk along the sea on a bluff.  Happy went with us and we enjoyed this relative peaceful walk.  It ended near Xinghai square, a large public gathering place with an amusement park area.  This is supposedly the largest city square in the world.  It is also the site of the soon to happen Dalian International Beer Festival.  We were sorry to miss this event which starts in August.

One of the many interesting buildings in "Russian Street" in Dalian, all dating from the Victorian or turn of the century era

These signs are in both Chinese and Russian

Another architecture detail

Alice in Russian Street

A selfie with a pretty yellow building behind

This building had a huge and interesting chimney

We walked along a back street to get to the car and there were many live seafood for sale

A faded marker of "Japanese Street"

Randy on the nearly deserted and residential Japanese Street

A building waiting to be restored on Japanese Street

On the long boardwalk along a sea bluff in Dalian

These instructions for walking exercising are both interesting and silly

With guide Happy on the boardwalk

There are many tall Chinese especially in the northern regions which includes Dalian but Happy is not one of them

A bridge under construction in this port city

The pedestrian bridge from the boardwalk to the Xinghai Square area with its amusement park and other amenities

I spotted some safe seeming swings and we went on that ride.  Happy lasted one iteration and begged off which Randy and I enjoyed two such rides.  We then walked to meet up with our driver (we never got his name) and drove through the city to our hotel area and briefly around the port.  Thus, ended our excursion.  It was overpriced but we are still glad we booked it, otherwise we would not have seen hardly anything of Dalian.

Randy on the swings

While we were swinging I took this photograph of the city

Even on this Wednesday afternoon the park was pretty crowded

The beer festival is coming - we were sorry to miss it

Randy and I on the swings - taken by guide Happy as she sat out the second ride

Viewing the humanity at the Xinghai square / park area - apparently the main socialization outdoor space of Dalian

A view of the Shell Museum in the square area (which has been closed for some time) with new buildings in the background including a huge and impressive hotel (on right) made like a European castle

After we paid off Happy and the driver, we walked around the hotel / convention area a little and got ready for the dinner.  Being turned away (rightfully) from the Executive Lounge we went to the ground floor bar which was showing volleyball and had a big draft beer (Alice) and a mixed bourbon drink with peanuts (not in the drink!) (Randy).  We enjoyed the alcohol (frankly) and the relatively Westernized atmosphere.  Dinner was nearly a repeat of lunch – a basic buffet – but the fish was good and we sat with old friend and charmer, Dr. Elsayed Elsayed of Rutgers University.  We returned to the hotel room early and enjoyed the internet and relaxing on the very big bed.

The convention center rolled out the red carpet for Elsayed and I (not really - they were setting up for a big fashion event at the convention center)

Randy with convention center and Hiltonhotel (rear, on right with diamond motif)

Our last day in China turned stressful.  We slept well and breakfasted extremely well at the generous Hilton buffet.  The conference arranged a local academic to drive us to the airport which was nice.  We checked our luggage and got a pass to the VIP Lounge.  So far, so good.  Our flight was about 45 minutes late for unexplained reasons and we were nervous about our connection in Beijing.  But we seemed to make the airport in enough time.  Things turned ugly then.  China Southern (our airline from Dalian to Beijing and a so-called partner of Delta) said in Beijing we were supposed to claim our luggage in Beijing and go through customs (we were not expecting that).  There was no time however, so they rushed us without luggage to customs and immigration.  After some hassles we passed these barriers.  

Our seat companion on the China Southern flight from Dalian to Beijing was friendly with excellent English.  He is from Dalian but works in Beijing and majored (as we understood) in English and computer technologies.  He works in IT.

The Delta flight was loading and the gate agent refused to recognize our boarding passes as they were issued by China Southern.  What??  Randy demanded to speak with a manager (which the agent said he was) and I shrieked that they had to let us on the plane as we had seats and boarding passes.  A melee occurred and the Delta gate agent relented with the warning that this would be the last time (the desk had closed before our flight’s arrival – but really, we already have boarding passes).  Anyway, knowing our luggage would be left in Beijing (maybe, forever) we got on the flight and ordered stiff drinks as soon as we could after takeoff.  Well, we are now on our way and will hope our luggage joins us sometime in the future in Auburn. (We did actually get all of our luggage just fine in Detroit.)  It does save us dragging through the Detroit and Atlanta airports, so there is always a bright side.  I will call and write to complain with Delta about their lack of partnership with their supposed partner in China, China Southern.  

As we taxied to take off in Beijing we saw both the ubiquitous white smog (no blue skies today) and many Chinese flags at this airport building.

I also got to see the Great Wall from the air on the way home which was a send off treat.

This seems like a rather desolate part of either northern China or Mongolia.

The Mongolian (I think) desert from the plane.  We flew a route up over Mongolia, Siberia, the North Pole region, and down through Alberta and Ontario to Detroit.

It would not have been the worst thing to be stuck in Beijing for the night but it was infuriating that people were still boarding and they wanted to refuse us entry because we flew on China Southern.  Well, that is in the past.  My last entry on this China Adventure blog will be a recap of our long (so it seemed) and interesting (definitely) and challenging (on some days) trip to this big country.

Sunrise over Dalian from our Hilton hotel room window on our last day in China

This Dalian man was archetypical of what we saw all over China in this hot season- men with their T shirts rolled up to let their bellies breathe.  The fact that he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth is icing on the cake.