Sightseeing, or Rather, Fun with Molesting Statues)

This past Sunday, the Yuanfeng, one of our host professors, took our team sightseeing in Dalian. They tried to show us as many places as they could. As a result, I didn't get to spend as long in some of the places as I would have liked. Some places, we just drove by with only a few words of narration from Yuanfeng. We're definitely going to go back to some of the locations and just hang out for an afternoon one of these weekends.

In any case, we took some pretty pictures. The advantage to going on outings with multiple people is that I get to be in the center of pictures, not just the corner from autopicturetaking:

Xinhai Square, apparently the largest square in all of Asia. It is much more impressive in person and actually quite picturesque. The thing in the sky is a cross between a bike and a parachute. It flies around the sky, much like ET.

A slopey thing. It's difficult to climb to the high edge because you start sliding down. I did not see any rollerbladers/skateboarders exploiting this excellent surface. Maybe it's because there's a bronze-ish thing in the center with some 1000 footprints cast in it, which serves as a nice barrier.

Xinhai Square has a beach next to it. Here are some nice people frolicking at the beach on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. The giant plastic balls are tethered to land and contain small children, who walk on water in them like some unholy amalgamation of Jesus and a hamster.

Dalian loves statues. There are random ones (lots of giraffes and octopi) everywhere. Among them, I have found my new lover, a lovely musician who is just the right height for me. I've always wanted kids with perfect pitch!

After Xinahai Square, we headed to this spot on a mountain with a couple of enormous, grotesquely stylized trees, which turned out not to be real but are actually made from wire framing and painted plaster (best guess).

We then stopped by a pebble beach, where we met a giant turtle and skipped pebbles into the incoming waves.

Due to my dress and shoes, I did not attempt to climb on its head and merely rested (precariously) on its shell.

We walked along the beach and encountered this card playing trio, I mean quartet. 9 out or 10 Chinese people cannot tell which one is the real Ben Charrow in this picture. My best guess is the blond on the left.

Further along the beach is a highly abstract depiction of waves, water droplets, and seagulls. Here's me doing the Asian tourist pose because, after all, I am Asian, and I'm pretty much a tourist.

Semi-unsuccessful attempt at being as cool as Escher.

My secret: I like little boys.