Friday and Saturay in Dalian

After the orphanage visit on Friday we went shopping in the Russian district. For a period of Dalian’s history Russian invaders occupied the city. As a result there is a strong Russian influence in some of the architecture. It was so strange to walk down a Chinese street but see matrushka dolls (not sure about the spelling, but these are the nesting dolls Russians are famous for), Russian music blaring and flags waving. Talk about culturally confusing! We weren’t really interested in the Russian wares so we only stayed long enough to take in the strange yet interesting environment.

Next we went to a Chinese tea store and sampled several teas. The Chinese do know good tea. I purchased my favorite, Jasmine. We also had a chance to sample several moon cakes and found one we all really enjoyed. Cosette enjoyed having a Chinese tea party!

In the late afternoon we went shopping for shoes for Daniel. The ones he has been wearing were too small.

The next thing on the schedule was a little play time at a park for the kids. Evidentially there are no playgrounds within walking distance so we went to a park with open green areas and brought a beach ball to kick around. After everyone tired of that game we walked around and found these statues. Each of the kids found their “animal” so we took pictures of them on the statues. There was a local artist in the park who would paint your name with flowers and birds around. See the pics. I think considering the 5 minutes he spent on each one that he did a great job. Cosette and Daniel both really enjoyed watching and I’m sure they will treasure the paintings in the future. One funny thing, once the paintings were dry, the painter asked if we wanted them “in plastic”. Wondering what he meant we asked him to show us. He pulled out a little laminator, right there in the park he plugged in and laminated the paintings!

Today we were off to Ocean Park and some fun in the sun. The park is huge, and I’m sure we didn’t see half of it. Once the kids saw the rides it was all over! We spent a couple of hours watching the kids have a blast. It’s really gratifying to see them enjoy each other.

Our next stop was a shell museum. It was very interesting, but a little slow for the kids. We didn’t linger too long.

The scenic ocean drive was next. What a glorious view! Unfortunately, the kids were tired, but not worn out enough to sleep. They were not at all impressed and wanted us to move on to something “fun”.

Sorry kids, but shopping for the orphanage was next. We purchased the requested milk powder and biscuits. I think they will be surprised by the volume! We cleared the shelf.

We finished our day with a dip in the pool at the hotel, hot baths for the kids and noodles in our room for dinner. We will all sleep well tonight.

Goodnight!
Tonya