We visited Dalian in 2011 and took the tour of the Aquarium, Tiger Park and the cultural centre.

This time we are taking the 20 minute shuttle ride into town and having a look around.

When we arrive it is quite chilly so we put on our light coats. No sign of rain which of good.

The shuttle stops at The Friendship Store. This is a high end store where clothing starts at about $300 US per piece. The first blouse I looked at was $600US (app 3800 RMB oy Yuan). So we did a quick walk through, then back to the street to look for more realistic markets.

The city is designed on ‘squares’ which are actually large circles with main roads radiating off in about 8 directions. We walked to Shanghai Lu and walked until we found a market street – about 15 minute walk.

The weather warmed up quickly so coats were off and we have a lovely day in the sun.

I was looking for some blouses to wear on board the ship now the weather is cooling down as we head further north. I ended up with 2 blouses and a hooded jacket for $30US – so different to The Friendship Store. I thought the stores name was inappropriately as the majority of Chinese citizens would never go there. We thought they would probably do a deal with Princess to make their store the shuttle stop so that the majority of passengers end up there at some time or other during the day.

There were also department stores and malls near the markets so we had a good look around.

At lunch time we found a restaurant that had no English on the menu and the waitresses spoke no English. It was full of Chinese people so we thought it would be fine.

We ordered from the pictures and made chicken actions, trying to ensure we didn’t pick chicken dishes due to the avian flu scares. It was lots of fun and the waitresses were good humoured. We ordered 3 dishes with rice – way too much food. The best dish was quite spicy with lots of dried chilli – we have no idea what protein it contained but it was delicious. We are hoping it was not chicken. Paul wanted a beer but they did not recognise that word so I went to the fridge with the waitress and they had 500ml bottles of Dalian dry beer for $1.50US. The point and smile technique got Paul his beer. When I said Coke she knew what I meant – it seems to be universal!!!! Lunch with 2 beers and a coke cost $16US. We left a tip and they tried to follow us from the shop to give it back. But we insisted as they had worked so hard to try and work out what we wanted.

There are lots of cake shops where you buy by the slice so we had a bit of money left over so we h bought a sample box. This had 9 tiny square servings of different cakes. This will be afternoon tea next sea day.

We walked back through the markets and I bartered for a scarf. At this stage I was trying to use the last of my Chinese money as we have no more Chinese ports to visit.

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We walked back to the shuttle stop, with other passengers and crew, and were back in the ship by 2.30 pm.