Dalian and the Fake Venice Experience

Dalian, China is world-renowned not only for its stunning architecture (see prior) but also for its copycattiness of its architecture.

Hallstett, Austria I MEAN.... Guangdong, China,  is another example of Chinese faking it.

Maybe it is a treatise to the Chinese people, a promise that China has everything the free continent of Europe has to offer, specifically architecture.

Hangzhou China boasts the Eiffel Tower. Amongst rotting cornfields and visored farmworkers...

I don't get it.

I think that is my main frustration with traveling in the Far East. I spent the majority of my time not understanding why things were the way they were in certain parts we traveled in, and I am still to this day not understanding. In most respects.

I don't get why China has to spend millions to replicate architecture that has already been vaulted and glorified. But they do.

Lian told us about this 'historical site' and suggested we give it a lookaround.

It opened in October of 2014, which might help explain the gaping absence of all human lifeforms in the setting.

The canals must have been a good location for wedding photography. There were two separate modeling sessions going on simultaneously.

prettiest architecture ever built.

500 million dollars US and all the buildings are vacant.

Oh and the two portapotties we were finally able to find were padlocked shut.

Still...it was our first time on a gondola :).

Bumpo was obsessed with getting the best angle of her features. It wasn't at all annoying.

 Bumpo....stahpppp....

Tank was feeling feverish and under the weather. I think he was miserable in the 90+ degree heat and 80% humidity.

All of the buildings were vacant. There were no restaurants, no shops, no museums open nearly one year after completion. It was sort of icky.  

Another hot day in Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.

The water was brackish-colored and clotted with algae, and you could see the concrete surface of the canal at the bottom.

Some friendly Chinese waved at us.

All in all glad that we did it, but not thinking we would have missed a lot if we hadn't.

Google "Venice in China" for more info.

Dalian Day Three--Architecture

Dalian is hot. Like sickeningly hot. I am not one to wear baseball caps or sun hats (having the basal cell surgery to prove it) but there was no other way to tolerate the nailing sunlight than to break out the umbrella.

Dalian is world-renowned for its architecture. The amount of creativity and imagination it took to create some of these masterpieces was inspirational. Lian hired a driver for us again and he joined us for most of the morning.

(An assortment of the seaglass and shells I collected at the Golden Pebble Beach the day prior.)

Dalian International National Conference Center three views. 

I was obsessed. It looked like some madman's grater or some spiny otherworldly fish. The Chinese obsession with fish was appealing.  

Walking to our lunch with Lian. We met two undergrad students there for a lunch of noodle soup. By this point in my digestion noodle soup was Chinese for "rampant diarrhea..." sharing not for shock value but as a lesson to take heed of. Just because you're not drinking the water doesn't mean your not risking some sort o bacterial upset. Now 4 months later I'm still dealing with this. Yogurt, high fiber, hydrating with lemon water...nothing seems to have helped. This may be a lifelong struggle for me. A friend's husband noticed a permanent change in his system after returning from a trip to Pakistan. Oh well. It's not fatal and a minor inconvenience. Sights like this made it almost worth it. Almost. 

Dalian International Convention Center 

Chinese military presence. Yet again. The guy looking profile was too interested in me with my camera. 

Chinese reinterpretation of the city of Venice off in the distance. 

Family portrait portside. Not flattering of me but telling of how freakishly hot it was. Men and boys were fishing with longpoles off the dock beside us but all I could see was floating plastic detritus. 

Lian and Beloved. 

Nuclear everywhere. ;) 

After touring the International Conference Center complex (and needing a mad dash to the neighboring Hilton hotel-seen below- to use their loo-seated toilets- thank you Jesus!) 

we trundled back into our waiting minivan (water anyone?) and cranked up the a/c to our next stop, China's answer to Venice.