Xinghai Square and Pizza Hut

Although Saturday was rainy here in Dalian, C and I decided we should actually see more than the southwestern corner of the city where DMU is. So around noon we headed out to Xinghai Square. Xinghai Square is one of the city's most famous sites. It's apparently one of the largest squares in Asia. And indeed it is huge. We took the 202 tram up about 5 stops and braved the road crossings to get to the square. The square is located in southern Dalian, directly on the Yellow Sea. The square is very beautiful and has many pillars and sculptures scattered throughout. There are also pools of water and marble everywhere. It's a very relaxing walk to take in. Once you get to the end of the square, there's an observation area right next to the sea.

Since it had just rained in Dalian, there were clouds everywhere in the sky but they all had the most interesting shapes. Dalian City has green hills and mountains poking up all over the peninsula, so the clouds draped the green mountains like cloaks. Above the square in the hills is what looks like a european style castle, probably Russian in origin. We have pictures of all of this of course, but we can't upload until we get our own DSL next week (hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday).

After enjoying the square thoroughly, I had a craving for some western food. I knew there was a Pizza Hut on the 23 bus line, but we weren't exactly sure where. C was reluctant at first to go on a Pizza Hut expedition without exact knowledge of how to get there. I convinced her I could find it and off we went. The Pizza Hut was a thing of beauty. Western restaurants tend to be much more upscale in China and Pizza Hut was no exception. Their menu was crazy though. You can get crab pizza there. Ew. Apparently Pizza Hut China was running a "New Orleans" promotion, where many foods were branded as being from Nawlins. For example you could get New Orleans chicken wings, and gumbo soup. But you could also get a cocktail called "The Hurricane"! Talk about insensitive...shame on Pizza Hut - one man's disaster is another man's marketing opportunity I guess.

Anyway, they did have the "American special" which was a pan pizza with pepperoni. And it was just like home.