We had decided early on that an interesting trip for my parents would be to the North Korean border at Dan Dong. I have had friends that traveled there before and told me the things that were there and so we decided to take the trip and see the border.
It was to be a four hour bus ride Dalian to Dan Dong, provided we could find the correct bus to take. Of course, like any other thing on vacation and in Northern China in particular, people try to get a cut out of you. The day before, we had been at the bus station and had asked about getting a bus to Dan Dong and the bus station employee had told us that he could help us out and gave us a card...of a completely unofficial bus. Usually people wander around outside bus stations, but it is not usually going on with the employees. This is just a thing that we have experienced in North part, very similar experiences in Harbin. Here is the bus station area in Dalian.
However, we FINALLY found the bus to take, and it was a nice one!!!Big with air conditioning and relatively comfortable seats. Actually, the seats on the bus were assigned which saved some confusion. Here is a picture from the bus during the trip. The landscape was hilly and green. There were many farm houses and lots of farm land. Actually, a lot of the farm houses looked western - and could have been western owned. Cheap land up that way for a person that wants to farm, labor not bad either I suppose.
As soon as we reached Dan Dong we checked into a cheap hotel and then walked to the border crossing with North Korea. Dan Dong is a tiny town and it was easy to walk around it. Here are the videos we took at the crossing. Also on the boat ride.
After we got off the boat, my dad asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom. Showing us the way to the 5 star WC.
We did not actually use the toilet!
As we walked back towards the hotel we came across a strange scene where a woman was running around naked in the street and being a real bother. She started to chase us when she saw foreigners and we scurried away. Since she was messing with us, I decided to video her activities. Once the police arrived, she left.
The next day we went to the Museum of American Aggression. I am not a big fan of museums in general, as I may have shown when we went to the Museum of Japanese Nastiness in Harbin. The outside of the museum was gorgeous, great weather and blue skies and we had a good walk around the facility on the outside.
The inside of this facility was extremely full of SHIT. haha
The stuff that many of these displays showed was just funny, the dates and what not were really something. Most foreigners know that mainland Chinese have a skewed view of history, but this place is extreme.
However, on the outside there was a lot o cool war equipment.
After this museum, we took the bus back to Dalian. We went back into our hotel and the next day we went to the Zoo. Will give that post next.
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