Dalian Wrap

This is a bit late, but I swear, running that race just exhausted me (and I’ve been actually busy at work).

My weekend trip to Dalian was a quick one, so I didn’t get to see all of the city. Nonetheless, I got to see a good part. You can see all my photos from the trip here, and I’ll post a few highlights below. Dalian has an interesting history. It’s a major port city, and as such, its control frequently changed hands, from the British, Russians and Japanese to finally the Chinese. This history is reflected in many of the older buildings with a Russian architecture, looking certainly out of place in the middle of China:

 

Globalization: An American fast-food chain in a Russian building in a city in China

The city is much more compact than Beijing, which, I thought, made it feel more like a city than an endlessly sprawling metropolis. I spent most of the day just wandering around, walking down streets and alleys and exploring the markets and parks and random side streets.

 

Apparently, a public telephone booth

My favorite point of the day was when I wondered into a city park. Chinese people really understand the utility of public parks and they take full advantage of them. Never have I seen a park in China that wasn’t bustling with activity, and this one was no different: Older people dancing or practicing tai chi (especially in the mornings), children running about and playing, folks singing and playing music, and the retired men bunched in groups playing cards or mah-jong. As I was walking by, one of the older men stopped and asked me where I was from and we proceeded to have a nice little conversation (half-English, half-Chinese). He tried to show me the mah-jong tables (but I still don’t understand how to play) and told me he had picked up studying English since he found himself laid off. Other sites included a man playing the traditional Chinese instrument, the erhu, and an open-air barber who set up shop right outside the park’s gates.

 

Men enjoying a game of mah-jong in the park

The actual race, though a little bit haphazardly organized, was a total success. (Although I did lose my safety pins they handed out to attach my race bib. After searching for some all day  — because really, who knows the Chinese word for “safety pin” — I had to settle for some giant pins meant for baby diapers with giant orange animal figures on them.) The race was held out on the city’s easternmost edges, near one of the popular beaches. There was a great turnout: I felt like every school-aged child in the city was there on the sidelines, cheering me on. The community really came out and was so encouraging to the runners. The race not only included full and half running marathons, but also full and half wheelchair marathons (additonally, this week I saw pictures in some of the local papers of some blind running as well), which was a nice addition. Since China clearly doesn’t have anything like the ADA, it seems like a lot of times disabled people are really sort of left out and their needs are rarely taken into account, so it was nice to see an outreach to include as many people as possible in this event.

 

My fellow marathoners (the only photo I took while running; I was too worried about getting a good time!)

Possibly the best part came after the race. I was kind of rushed for time, as I finished the race at 10:30, needed to check out of my hotel by 12 and catch a flight at 2, but I hadn’t thought beforehand that a cab would be near impossible to catch out at this secluded beach area. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, I was running short on time, and I could hardly stand to walk much longer after running 13.1 miles. As I came up over a bridge, though, I spotted two police cars. Well, I thought, I guess they’re going to have to serve their civic duty by helping out this foreign girl! Now police in China are much-despised by ordinary people because of their reputation for being so corrupt (doesn’t that sound familiar?), but I figured they would surely be nice to me. I walked up to the car, knocked on the glass and asked (in Chinese) where I could find a taxi. They sympathized with me, saying there weren’t many around here, but offered to try to help. Meanwhile, they gave me a pear, offered me McDonald’s (which I politely declined; the last thing I could stomach after running would be McD’s!) and let me sit inside the police cruiser with them while waiting since it was rather windy and chilly, and I still had my running shorts on. They were so friendly, and we spoke for a while until they found a guy driving by (but not a taxi) who agreed to take me back to my hotel for a fee. It was quite a funny experience to look at myself, sitting in a police car with three Chinese cops, chatting away! (I should have taken photos, but I’m always hesitant to photograph any sort of law enforcement here. They can be kind of touchy about those things.)

So I made it back home, where I immediately crashed. I consider the trip overall to be a success, and now I’m looking forward to my next visit (in a week and a half!) to Kunming in Southwestern China’s Yunan province. (More on that TK)