Dalian 2005

alian Summer Research Program 2005

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Beaches and Parks

The water in Dalian is cold in June, but we still enjoyed hanging out on the beaches. You can still visit and try to tan, but the water may be a bit too cold.

Lao Hu Tan

There are two ways to get to this beach. You can take the 901 bus to QingYiWaQiao, and then walk 2 minutes northeast to the start of the 2 bus line. You can get off the 2 at Lao Hu Tan. You can also just take a taxi for about 32 Y.

When you get to Lao Hu Tan, you should see the entrance to a large polar aquarium. We never went to the polar aquarium, but Professor Yue might take the group on a weekend trip. Facing the front entrance to the aquarium, we headed right down the road. After a bit of a walk, you should see a magnificent statue of several tigers. It's a perfect picture spot.

Instead of going to the polar zoo that day, we took a motorboat to BangChui Island, a small getaway that is actually just part of the mainland. The booths that sell tickets for the boat trip are on the left side of the road as you come up to the tiger statue. It's 40 Y a person to take the motorboat trip and come back without ever getting off the boat. It is 60 Y to get off the boat and stay at BangChui for a certain period of time. We stayed for about 2 hours and that was perfect.

The boat ride is a little crazy but a must. The driver goes way too fast over a bunch of waves so it can be a little bumpy. On the island, you should definitely take bikes to see the beautiful scenery and luxurious homes. There are also several beaches on the island that you can reach on your bikes with real sand. The area is just gorgeous.

Xing Hai Gong Yuan

The easiest way to get to this beach is to take the 901 or the 406 to the Xing Hai Gong Yuan stop. You can walk straight in following the road and head to the beach. Xing Hai is a rock beach, but you can still lay out your towel and soak up some sun. Off in the distance, there is a huge tower where you can go down a 500 m zip-line or go bungee jumping. Two of us went bungee jumping and lived to tell about it. The walk to the tower has several food shops and carnival games. In the middle of the park, you might be able to ride large Zorb balls. These are huge plastic balls filled with air, with room for two people to be strapped inside. Then, they roll you down a hill with you inside.

Dong Hai Gong Yuan

We took taxis to Dong Hai Gong Yuan. It's about a 25-minute ride east of the campus. There's a trolley that runs to the beach as well, but we are not sure where it starts. The best thing to do is to ride the trolley back from the beach into the city. The trolley starts right outside the entrance to the park.

The park is full of art structures. There are several models of boats, a metal sculpture that looks like a dragon, a huge tortoise on the beach, and numerous other statues. The tortoise sits right on the beach area, and you can do your swimming and tanning there. The park is one long road that loops around to several different art landmarks.

Jin Shi Tan

There are two ways to get to Jin Shi Tan. You can take a taxi for over a little over a hundred Yuan. You can also take a taxi to the main train station in Dalian, and take a train to Jin Shi Tan. The train ticket is 8 Y a person to the beach. The beach has several spots around that we did not get the chance to see. There is a wax museum and a Wu Shu temple close by that you could check out. The beach has sand to lie out on and several beach volleyball courts for use provided you bring a ball. We took bikes across the white bridge to check out the other side of the beach. It was definitely worth the ride depending how far you go. The views are incredible.

Labor Park

Labor Park is a public park downtown. It's the one with the giant soccer-ball-looking construction in the middle. There were some interesting statues in the park, as well as some pretty buildings and flora, a small amusement park, and a few trinket and souvenir stands. If you get to the amusement park, check out the alpine sleds. They bring you to the top of the hill (near the TV Tower!), and then send you back down on a sled track, over and under highways and a chunk of the park.

The cost is free to get in, but the amusement park was a little costly.

To get there, take the 406 bus all the way to the end. The park is right in the area of the bus stop. You could also take a taxi that would take about 20 minutes.

This is an afternoon worth of adventure, so plan to take about half a day there.

Fu Jia Zhuang

This beach is close to Xinghai Square. You can just take a taxi here since taking a bus to Xinghai Square and then taking a taxi is about the same cost. The beach was a little sparse when we went because we went on a relatively cold day. The views of offshore islands are beautiful. If you exit the beach and turn to the right, you will head down Bing Hai Lu. This road follows the coast for nearly 10 km with some incline. It's a beautiful walk that connects Fu Jia Beach to Lao Hu Tan.

Forest Zoo

Dalian Forest Zoo is a large zoo about half an hour away from the university. They had a large range of animals, from pandas and tigers to dogs and rabbits. There were several animal-related shows throughout the course of the day, as well as a bus ride and a cable car ride. The shows and the exhibits could be a little depressing some times, but the bus ride and the cable car ride were definitely worth it. The bus ride went through some habitat exhibits, and the cable car ride between the two sections of the park yielded a great view of the city (Dalian is huge).

Professor Yue paid our way through. He sent us there on a bus. If Professor Yue does not organize the trip for you, taxi might also be a good option to get there if you can't get the bus.

Water Park

The Water Park was definitely worth an afternoon. The park had a lot of giant waterslides, a wave pool, some random play areas, and some great examples of Chinese bathing suits. Professor Yue took us and all of his grad students one weekend, he might do the same for you.

The cost was Y100 each. If Professor Yue arranges this again, he will probably get a bus again.