My visit with Nan in Dalian

If you have been waiting to see some pictures from my China trip, I apologize for taking so long to post them. You can thank my dad for reminding me! For all of you who don't know who Nan is, she is my friend from school. We had a long weekend so I got to go to China to visit! I left school early on Friday and took a bus to the airport. I arrived in Dalian after an hour flight around 9:45 pm. Nan and her boyfriend picked me up and then we went to dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant.

I don't know what this dish is called in Chinese but it is sure good! They are some kind of steamed clams with coriander and other spices that I can't recognize.

Check out those lobsters in the aquarium. The room behind me is where you can go to pick out the fish you want for dinner. 

The next day we slept in then Nan and I went shopping for a while. The city was so busy that weekend because of the Dragon Boat Festival. I was trying to keep up with Nan as we made our way thorough the streets.

Later that night we went out to eat again. This restaurant is called Hot Pot Paradise. Nan's boyfriend ordered so much food. It was pretty yummy! Here is me trying to cook my food in the hot pot which has some kind of boiling broth. Then you pick out the raw food you want and drop it in the pot, and wait a little while for it to cook.

I don't know how this picture snuck in the middle of the restaurant pictures, but this was my room at Nan's house. I had my own big bed and TV. It had a really beautiful view of the ocean as well.



Back to the restaurant haha. You can see the shrimp on the skewers, a plate of jellyfish, and many dipping sauces to choose from. We also had watermelon juice.  



Next we had abalone, which was super good.

Here is the view form by bedroom. It wa really foggy the first day I was there and you couldn't see anything. It was a lot nicer on Monday.

Nan's boyfriend wanted to show me the boat so we drove down to the harbor. It was getting fixed so we couldn't go for a ride but it was nice enough on the dock. It smelled like warm sea!

Here is some seaweed (or sea vegetable for those of you that prefer the politically correct name ;P ) I said mmm.. that looks good, so we ended up going to a seaweed restaurant for lunch!

More boats.

Here I am at the top of the boat, getting out of the sun for a minute.

And another tired looking Kara.

That's Nan's boyfriend on the phone.

He set up some nets the day before to try and catch some crab, so the guy is pulling up the nets to show what was caught.

This guy is called a sea cucumber, and yes it is as gross to hold as it looks if you can't tell by my face.

Here are some more sea cucumbers. Can you believe I ate that guy in the picture above. They look a lot nicer when they are sliced so thin ( a skill that not many chefs can do I am told).

Later in the afternoon we went for a drive around the coastline. The water is so blue!

Most of the coast is really rocky with huge cliff drop offs.

My last day Nan and I went shopping again. As I said earlier, the city was really crowded because of the holiday. Here we are buying some Chinese amulet things for peace and protection.

A view of the packed street.

And the final picture, Nan paying. Her and her boyfriend really gave me a wonderful trip. It was so good to see her, to be able to meet her family, and to see the city where she is from.