Saturday, November 8, 2014

Saturday, November 8, 2014

After another fantastic breakfast buffet (which is actually $32 US if not already included with my room rate) I met Winson in the lobby for a light day to explore.  We took a taxi to an area more to the north (east of the airport) where there is a very large street market going on.  Tons and tons of traffic and tons and tons of people milling about as we arrived.  So crowded and hectic in fact, that Winson forgot his backpack in the taxi.  No good, just as it drove off I realized he didn't have it.  (UPDATE: On Sunday, the hotel called and reported that the taxi driver had returned his backpack - wow!)  As we fought through the crowds along the streets, I saw what was essentially a giant street rummage sale that went on for a good number of blocks.  Everything was here – from old toys, trinkets, clothes, roots, spices, tobacco leaves, animal paws, shoes, jewelry to flowers, aquarium supplies, and pet birds.  In fact, after a couple of hours of wandering the streets, Winson took me inside some large dilapidated buildings in the center of the blocks of sales.  One building was tons of small 10’x10’ aquarium and fish shops.  Another building was just plants, and yet another was furniture.  I almost forgot to mention some of the food vendors – kind of rough looking street food, and one vendor was busy butchering a goat with the blood pile, head, and legs nearby on the street.  I did not try any!

Failing to find a taxi, we hopped on a bus to head back south for lunch.  This time, one of Winson’s favorites – river fish hot pot.  Not my personal favorite.  There we dined on an endless supply of wafer thin sliced river fish (about 4” x 4” slices).  You grab the raw sliced fish and drop them into a boiling fish stew.  After only 3-5 seconds, you pull the fish slice out, dip in one of a couple sauces and then consume (the sauces are identical to Yummy-Yum and Yucki-Yuck found at Hibachi restaurants).  The fish are a bit slimy and have a slight taste of mud – again not my favorite.  We also had one plate of raw lamb that also was similarly dipped in the broth – that was actually ok – although you have to be a fan of thin strips of meat cooked in a fish broth to really enjoy it.  We then took a 30 minute taxi ride to the south west end of Dalian – past the software park to the “Hi Tech Zone” of Dalian – where Winson lives.  He actually had the driver drop us off on a side street where Winson had a surprise for me.  We walked on a short narrow path through some woods towards the coast and after passing over a crest in the path, we came up a very nice view of the Yellow Sea – at low tide.  We walked down some rather rough wooden steps down to the beach – not sandy, but natural Dalian beach – small well weathered rocks.  The “beach” ran for a few hundred yards, winding around the coast at an average width of about 30 yards.  On the land side, some 100’ tall multilayered rock – something resembling granite – but with very interesting heaves.  In the water, at low tide, a good number of folks were out amongst the rocky bottom looking for clams or crabs.  There were also a number of other folks standing around that Winson presumed were fisherman guarding there spots just off shore.  Oh yes, we watched a mom grab her kid just as is slipped on the rocks and into the water.  No harm done – but I could easily picture that being my son!

We then took a ten minute walk back to the crowds of the city to head to Winsons’s condo.  He lives in a complex of about 20 main buildings.  Each I think supporting about 12 units each across 6 stories tall.  The space between the main buildings was a nice green space with the sidewalk weaving leisurely back and forth with plenty of trees.  As we reached his building, we entered and climbed the 5 stories to his unit.  No elevators here, you walk it – just like Lenard and Sheldon do (if you are a fan of Big Bang Theory).  Inside, was a bachelor’s dream…  Big screen TV, spare bedroom converted into computer room with aquarium (and a bed).  Another bedroom was converted into a home theater and electronics project room.  He even moved the wall in his kitchen to make the theater room larger.  The kitchen actually had an interior sliding glass door to block it off from the rest of the house.  Much like our kitchens, except, the fridge/freezer was a bit smaller.  His two bathrooms and master bedroom rounded out his condo.  It was around 1100 sq. ft. I would estimate, and about as clean as you would expect from a single guy.  We hung out there for the bulk of the afternoon and had a great time.  In fact, in his theater he showed me some of a video called “David Attenborough's series -  Life” – absolutely amazing – I will definitely watch this in its entirety when I get home.  Another coworker then stopped by with his 3 year old son to go to dinner.  Our coworker drove us the 30 minutes back to downtown where we enjoyed a Peking Duck, and some various standard Chinese dishes.  It should be noted that the little boy got to enjoy his very first Coke ever, and I can imagine was quite wired until about midnight.  After dinner, they dropped me back at the hotel and I called it a night.