Day 27: Dilly Dalian (Dalian, China)

The port at Dalian looks grey, bland and rundown. Not the most appealing setting, but there's a shuttle into town, so we may as well check it out.

Once out of the immediate port area the cityscape changed. It was much newer and brighter than expected from the tourism images. Lots and lots of new, shiny buildings, with insane numbers of banks: Bank of China, Shenzen Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Minsheng Bank, Pudong Development Bank, Citic Bank, Yet Another Bank...

Clearly  there is quite a bit of money in China, most of it investment-oritented. That still leaves quite a bit for consumer spending, as we found out when the shuttle dropped us off at the Friendship Square shopping centre. The same high-end brands we'd see in Sydney, with the same high-end prices.

Now having said that there is some serious money in China, the average annual income is something like US$7,000, so obviously the average Chinese worker isn't lining  up to buy a US$5,000 watch from the BMW shop.

We had a better sense of how the typical Dalianese live as we walked back to the ship, taking some of the smaller roads. Main road: shiny. One block back: not so shiny.

Once off the main thoroughfares the quality of the buildings ranged from the older but serviceable to the seriously decrepit.

We stumbled along through a narrow alleyway markets. It was crowded and chaotic compared to what we're used to, but the we were impressed by the quality of the produce. You know the food is fresh when it's still moving - at least when it's a crate of crabs. Not such a good sign if the moving food is fruit and vegetables.

Road crossings in Dalian are as perilous as everywhere else in China. At one stage we had to cross six lanes of traffic just off a roundabout, withour even the illusory safety of a pedestrian crossing. It took us about five minutes and a couple of false starts before we managed that one.

Overall Dalian seemed like a serviceable and pleasant city, if perhaps a bit soulless. It was more interesting to visit that we expected, and I suspect it might be one of those cities that's better to live in than to visit - assuming you're above the average income line.

Back on the ship we had one final indulgence at the spa, which we picked up for about half-price in a "going out of businese end of tour"silent auction. Emma went for a pedicure and manicure, while I went for another massage.

Then I cashed in my poker winnings, picked up a set of DVDs the Princess videographers filmed on this trip - so we'll be able to bore our friends with hours of video as well as 2,000+ photos. 

By the time we sailed out the weather had lifted, and we could had decent views of the area around Dalian. Like most Chinese cities it sprawls in every possible direction, including into the ocean, due the magic of land reclamation.

We also spotted some animals swimming in the harbour. We couldn't work out what they were. Dolphins? Some sort of otter?

I fetched our binoculars, and Emma worked it out: people. There were three people swimming in the harbour. While the water in Dalian didn't appear as heavily polluted as Shanghai, I still expect their future children to be seriously at risk of being two-headed freaks.

One last dinner at the Santa Fe restaurant (love the fajitas, Emma loved the "highly nourishing" steak), where we chatted with two Canadian women we met early in the cruise and hadn't spoken with since, and then another early night, in preparation for disembarkation (sob) the next morning, and our trip to...

The Great Wall of China!