Today's port of call was Dalian – a first time visit for many of us. There were a few excursions here that ran from $60 to $150 for 3 ¼ hours to 7 hours. One was a tram tour, the Old Town, and Star and Sea Square passing by the International Convention Center. Another short tour was the highlights with a visit to a nursey school, a scenic drive to see Beida Bridge, and a stop at Labor Park. The third tour was similar to the second one with a stop on Lushan Hill for a panoramic view. And favorites went to a private home for a family visit, an aquarium stop, a nursery school visit, and lunch. We would tour what we could on our own of course.
It was very cold this morning when we sailed into the harbor of Dalian. Like the low 30's, although the skies were clear blue. It never got warmer than 41 degrees. The wind chill made it feel colder. Being that today was Sunday, there was little activity in the dock area with one exception of a car carrier being off-loaded. One of us had a surprise visit from a drone when taking photos on the veranda. It came up from the bottom level of the ship and hovered a few feet away. Then it disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Don't know if that was legal, but sure felt invasive.
We left the ship around 10am and headed across the dock to the terminal. We entered the building and went through the temperature check, then passed through xray. Then we had our passport copies looked at, but not scanned with the barcode. Then we boarded one of the free shuttles to town. It was nice to see that there were several buses in use today. We were handed a map and a slip of paper with the port info on it and the bus stop with hone numbers in case we got lost.
The ride to the Friendship Shopping Center was about a mile away if that. We remembered something about the friendship stores in China which were set up for the foreign tourists we think. This shopping mall was 12 floors high with two level of basement floors with food and grocery shopping. It was a good thing the bus ride was short because we seemed to be surrounded with several people coughing and sneezing. We sure hope there is not a bug going around the ship. So far, we have not heard of anyone with Covid, but that does not mean it isn't here.
We explored every floor of the mall beginning with the 12th floor. There was a roller skating rink up there, but was not busy yet. There were only three skaters trying to stay upright. The top floors had restaurants and a cafeteria. The lower we went, we saw housewares and furniture, followed by bedding, furniture and kid's toys. Kitchen and electrical appliances were next, then we got to the men's floor with clothes, luggage and jewelry. Famous women's clothing was next and that's where one of us spotted a very cool-looking silk poncho suitable for dressy dinner onboard. It was difficult asking questions of the sales girl since she spoke only Chinese (Mandarin) and we only spoke English. She indicated that the top was on sale for ½ off, and we figured the conversion was a good deal. They were most happy to take our credit card. It will be a nice useful memento of our visit to China.
We happened to cross paths with our friend Suzanne who said to go see the food store located on the basement level. That was where we were headed. She was right that they sold some pretty strange meats like every part of the pig from the head to the toes. We did take a lot of photos and headed outside to continue exploring. One nice thing is that in these malls, there are restrooms with normal facilities.
Outside, we ran into friends Mike and Nancy who said to go see the roundabout. This was Zhongshan Square, surrounded by a 10- lane road…one of the largest roundabouts in town. The entire circle of this square is flanked with art deco and French Renaissance architecture preserved since 1889 and built by the Russians. We did locate a crosswalk, but then discovered there were escalators that went down to a tunnel under the roundabout. You go down and come up a side street without having to cross a wide road full of cars and buses, most of whom do not stop for pedestrians.
In the center of the roundabout, there was a park full of families, little dogs, and small kids that were intent on feeding flocks of pigeons. City workers were mowing the almost dead-looking lawns and raking them clean of the cuttings with brooms. We suppose that Sunday is not a day off here. On the way to the next smaller roundabout, we found an Intercontinental Hotel and decided to go inside to check it out. Quite nice, we went up to the first level and found a Japanese restaurant complete with a fresh-water tank of fish and crabs. It might have been a good place for lunch, but we were not hungry and it was still too early.
Further up this road were more major hotels and more roundabouts. They would take us too far from the original stop and we were concerned about catching the next bus which left on the half hour. Most all of the recommended sights to see such as museums, aquariums, or parks were miles away and not walkable. Many of them were not opened today. So we headed back to the mall and waited for the next shuttle back at 2pm. By the time we went through two sets of xray and the temperature check, showing our passport copies it was close to 2:30pm. Then we had to pass through the ship's xray, a third check, because we were told the locals were not doing it right. Oh well, we passed through without alarms going off.
Back on the ship, we worked in the room and expected the sail away to take place around 5pm. Captain Frank came on with his talk and said not everyone was onboard, and we would be late leaving. He added that we would have a coast guard escort with pilots and tugboats. Unknown to us, the harbormaster and the officials paid the Captain a visit this morning and told him that we are the first cruise ship to come here since the pandemic. That was a surprise. Anyway, we have 250 nautical miles to go to reach Tianjin tomorrow for the city of Beijing. As it turned out, we did not leave the harbor until 7pm in the darkness of night. The ship will have to do more than the 15.5 knots to be on time.
Dinner was good with Caesar salad, shrimp cocktails with the red sauce (the best) and one KFC crispy fried chicken and one prime rib dinner. We saved a bit of room for an almond fruitcake and one scoop of strawberry sorbet. Perfect. The next two days will be busy with long tours in both Tianjin and Beijing. Since we did an overnight in Beijing to see all of the important sights several years ago, we decided to stay close to Tianjin and check that area out.
Kenny Martyn was the multi-instrumentalist entertainer this evening. It appeared to us that many diners were leaving the room early and perhaps headed to their rooms to be ready for an early day tomorrow. We were right behind them.
Bill & Mary Ann
