Saturday in the park...

I know it was not the fourth of July (any Chicago fans out there?). Yesterday I arrived in Dalian. Formerly known as Darien, part of it Port Arthur, now part of it Lushun (off limits to laowai because it is militarily sensitive), to-gether known as Luda. Any luddites out there might well be confused, just think of Lakehead, Thunder Bay, Port Arthur (a Chinese connection?) and Prince William and things will sort themselves out. I landed in a park, having forgotten it was Saturday, and smack in the middle of a parent-child festival. The colour, activity, intensity, brightness there was a microcosm of China. Crowded, good-natured, although to-day I have encountered several unfriendly people. But back to the park. It has a giant soccer ball dominating it, in this the city of China's "Manchester United." But I was taken in by the fishing for goldfish in a pond fully stocked, the skipping over bamboo poles not getting your feet caught, the keepsi-uppie, the Dalain equivalent to the London Eye, the ski lift, the paddle boats, the giant tipsy mountain which toppled when kids reached a certain height etc. etc This trip is a kaleidoscope of sensations. Dalian has been previously occupied by Russians (many signs are in Russian), Japanese, badly damaged by the European powers, but to-day is fully modern with awesome architecture.