Dalian

Never been to Dalian. Didnt get to try the seafood (and sea urchin) - sigh! Next time.

Landed at 1am. Flight delayed for an hour, as usual. First impression of Dalian (although completely dark outside) was that it's very tidy and clean. Some interesting public spaces (eg, large square etc), a few art deco buildings (one of those is the district court), and lots of "European style" residence. Of course the usual post-90s glass-faceted towering commercial buildings too.

Was surprised that at 1am the streets are totally empty, there're no cars, no lights in buildings at all (no "light poullution", a rarity for Asia) - I had to ask the driver to see if the buildings were occupied at all!. He immediately added that Dalian folks are unlikely Shanghainese and dont have much night life, they dont stay up late, what they like to do is to stroll in parks after dinner, etc.

Didnt see as much of the port/sea as I thought I would!!