Dalian, located in northeast China near the tip of the Liandong peninsula, is considered one of China’s most dynamic and beautiful cities. New construction abounds in this coastal city. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)
By Conner Leavitt
To experience a unique way of traveling in China, we took a sleeper train from Beijing to Dalian. The train station was a big hassle because we were all trying to walk around the crowed train station with all of our bags without getting lost. We eventually boarded car number 2 and almost filled the entire car with about 7 rooms full of PSU students and staff. Since each room had 4 beds, the sleeping conditions were very cramped. On the train, we continued to bond together and share our experiences. It was a great way to see the country side with our group and neat to be able to go to sleep, wake up, and be in the next city: Dalian.
Students enjoy some instant ramen noodles for dinner in the cramped quarters of a sleeper train from Beijing to Dalian. The ride took approximately eight 12 hours. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)
At Dalian, we arrived in our hotel to unpack, shower, and get ready for the day to come. Since Xinli Wu is good friends with the CEO of the hotel, we were treated to a wonderful brunch. It was the normal round table with 10 people using the spinning platter. The food was already put out for us and it was one of my favorite meals I have had so far.
After we finished brunch, we took two buses to the Shing Hai Plaza. It is the largest plaza in the world (?). It had a half pipe like structure at the end on it by the water. Our group drifted quickly to the amusement park with roller coasters and rides which was to the left of the plaza. After about an hour of riding rides and eating ice cream, we traveled to the City Hall Plaza and the Dalian Convention Center to end the day tours.
The City Hall plaza was in front of the city hall buildings for the government. At one end there were kids playing with pigeons and adults flying kites. We rested on the grass and enjoyed the perfect weather outside. The Dalian Convention Center was right on the bay and looked out onto different parts of the city. It was a very modern-looking building with a lot of curves and sharp cuts. We walked around and looked out onto the bay for about 30 minutes.
The students relax in a park across the street from Dalian’s city hall, pictured in the background. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)
On a side note, I noticed a lot of construction for building skyscrapers. The city was extremely big and had a plethora of abandoned buildings. There were complexes being built right next to tens of other unused apartment complexes. We drove by multiple different parts of the city with anywhere from 5-100 abandon skyscraper building right next to each other. For me, it was a very strange practice; I don’t really understand why so many are being built to not be used after they are completed.
Anyway, when we got back to the hotel we visited the Penthouse suite. The office on the top floor was beautiful. It was the most amazing room in the hotel. After we visited the suite , we enjoyed a very special dinner. We dressed up formally to dine with Xinli’s colleagues and friends from college. The dinner was out of this world; it was grand. We ended the dinner with the celebration of a PSU students birthday with cake.
Overall today was a great day, one of the best so far on the trip. We all enjoyed the dinner and the experience it gave us into the Chinese culture.
Connor Leavitt is a junior at University Park majoring in Industrial Engineering with minors in Six Sigma and IST.