(Written by Marlies)
From now on we can travel through Dalian in Dutch style, mr. Cheng Liang got us a bike. We tested it in front of the museum. The bike is perfect, but cycling through Dalian needs some iron nerves and a bit of luck. The cars and busses drive like crazy and never stop if you want to cross. At least not on the places we are used to cars stopping for crossing pedestrians. But slowly we are getting used to the new way of interpreting traffic. The busses are very convenient and easy traveling as long as you know which bus to take an which stop to go out again. Maybe in the end of the week one of us dares to cycle to the seaside.
Finding materials for making art in this city is an adventure. Luckily Vivian is taking us to the right places. I needed some iron wire, wallpaper glue, color ink and things like that. Vivian took me to this really tiny shop, literally packed to the ceiling with boxes and stuff. I wonder how they can find anything, but after Vivian asked for the right materials the shop owners dove into the shop and came back with exactly what we asked for. I had to make some pictures, my favourite shop :-).
Later on we went to an artist supply shop, this one was a bit more organised. A great place for finding all kinds of paper, from cardboard to traditional Chinese writing paper. Wandering through the shop there were funny details hidden in every corner (see the mannequin and fake hamburgers on the photo’s below).
After three days we still can’t get enough of exploring the city. There are so many different areas, all of them with their own kind of architecture and atmosphere. The city is full of squares, a leftover from Japanese influences. These squares are places you can breath a bit between the packed high buildings and busy city live. Especially at the Olympic square, this is a huge open area with a big shopping centre below. The square is holding a statue of the first Chinese participant to the Olympic games, mr. Liu Changchun. A statue with a very powerful pose, especially with the guy next to it, lazily hanging on a chair waiting for costumers.
Next to travelling by car, bike, foot or bus there is also a metro system. It consists of 2 lines and is built only last year. So everything is very new and high tech. It feels a bit like going to an airport, your bag has to go through a security check and if you bring water you have to take a sip before the security guards to show that it’s water. I was a bit confused when we got to the tracks. First I thought the metro was already there, but with a closer look it turned out they made a glass wall with doors to lock away the tracks. When the metro arrives it stops in front of the doors and both the doors of the glass wall and metro will open so you can enter or step out. So no-one can jump on the tracks.
And then of course the food! Vivian is showing us all kinds of food, sometimes very familiar (like the warm chestnuts, we got from the mother of Vivian) but also weird looking dishes which turn out to be very delicious. The street food comes in small plastic bowls wrapped in plastic bags so you don’t have to wash them. Especially the noodle dishes were very very tasty, but I also enjoyed the Chinese hotpot at the Chinese fastfood restaurant very much. Healthy fastfood, who new!
After two busy days Ella started to write down everything for her investigation and I started to create my artwork at the studio. It will be a challenge to put order to all the great new experiences.