Northeastern part of China has 3 provinces, Liaoning (辽宁), Jilin (吉林), Heilongjiang (黑龙江). And these places are super cold in the dead of winter, as a southerner, I have always wanted to visit those places during winter to see how cold it is. On the other hand, I'm into Korean culture so that I want to pay a visit to Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian (延边朝鲜族自治州), an area with a large population of Korean Chinese, also, I have long wanted to visit China's northernmost town, Mohe (漠河) and the last village in China's very northern point, Beihong Village (北宏村). Dalian (大连) was my first stop in northeast China after a long flight from Hefei. It's situated by the sea in the south of Liaoning Province. A beautiful city for tourists and a pleasant place for locals to live in.
Arrived Dalian late at night, super freezing! Woke up next morning only to find exotic trolley street trains running around. What an experience! Maybe because it was really cold or because I just got in such a cold place for the first time in my life, I felt I couldn't move my fingers, the cold here was unbearable...
A beach with gravels covered in white snow, never seen anything like this. I was glad to see the ocean and snow as a southern inlander.
Xinghai Square (星海广场) near the ocean in Dalian.
Some buildings near Xinghai Square looked like castles half way up to the mountain.
Dalian's version of "Golden Gate Bridge" Xinghai Bay Bridge (星海湾大桥)
Street view of Dalian, the power lines for trolley trains spread across the city like a spider web.
There are many trolley train lines in Dalian, a great public transport for locals and tourists, but most tourists who visit Dalian try at least once the trolley train No.201, a vintage train built in the year of 1909, and still being used today.
It was old, but very well maintained, inner part of this vintage train was decorated with bronze lights and hand bars, very clean and neat.
I like wondering around in a new city to see what they have, I try to do this everywhere I go. In Dalian, skyscrapers at downtown and old exotic buildings scattered here and there.
Everything was painted red before sunset. In the end of the street was the ocean. Unfortunately, I didn't ride off into that sunset because it was too cold to keep walking any further, I had to double back by bus to my hotel and put on more clothes before it was getting too dark. Getting back early gave me enough time to plan what to do the next day, I figured since Dalian had beautiful beaches, there must be some trails along the coastline for hikers, then I had a plan for the next day. And it turned out to be the highlight of my trip in Dalian.
Hiking along the coastline of Dalian with a length of 40 Km.
Hopped on a bus that took me to the starting point of the hike, Xinghai Bay Bridge.
This bridge alone was 6.8 km.
Well paved hiking trails were available on both side of the bridge.
Beautiful day with a beautiful mood.
Hello again! the "Golden Gate Bridge".
The view from the bridge.
After the bridge, the hiking trails came close to by the beaches.
Stopped to have some snacks while looking at the waves glittering under the sunlight.
Kept on moving, the trails went up and down a hill.
Never got tired of the exotic buildings in Dalian.
Night fell, all the street lights were on by the time I reached the other end of the hike, took me a full day. Had to get a transfer at downtown, so I might as well pay a visit there to see the night view of the city.
The city at night was flashy, definitely worth seeing. But I was so exhausted that I did't linger too long there. Came back by probably the last bus, went to bed straight after a really nice hot shower.
At the bus station of Dalian, ready to go to the next destination, Dandong, the city for tourists to go visit North Korea.
I had a great time in Dalian even though it was super freezing, sometimes, I couldn't even move my fingers freely because of the cold, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to stand such a cold weather as I moved deeper into northeast China. The stories on the road continued...Thanks for reading.