#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau Travel Forum >  >  Dalian China, Anybody Been There?

## taxexile

My father in law, a Thai born in China, he had neither a Thai nor a Chinese passport, refusing to take Thai citizenship and could not get a Chinese passport and he travelled on a scrumpled up old document issued sometime in the 1940's and renewed every few years at Thai immigration.

He was over 90 and every year he would take off for a month to roam around the land of his birth, visiting long lost cousins. He had no mobile phone and would just laugh when his family advised him to stop travelling in case something happened to him. 

He would just get up on the day of his trip and announce to everyone at the house that he was off to China today and would be back in a month. Nobody knew which part of China he was visiting. He didnt think it was important to tell anyone.

Well, yesterday, whilst in China, he died. The family in Bangkok got a phone call from someone who could not speak English or Thai and just said 3 words "father, China, dead"

None of the family can speak enough Chinese to have much of a conversation and so thanks to a Chinese speaking friend who called the number back it was ascertained that whilst in a town called Dalian, he had a heart attack and died and was now in the mortuary of a small local hospital.

So now the family have to go to Dalian and negotiate the tricky bureaucratic path of getting his body released and arranging a cremation there. It was always his wish to have his ashes scattered in China and so there is no point in bringing him back to Thailand for a cremation only to have to take his ashes back to China.

We (me and my Thai wife) are in the UK at the moment and will travel to Dalian as soon as we can get a visa ( 48 hours at least, they open on Monday) and meet up with the in laws and arrange the release of the body and the cremation.

We will probably be there for 2 weeks or so and once the hard part of the trip is over we would like to get out and about a bit and have a look around before returning to the UK and so my question is: has anybody been to Dalian and if so, what is there to see there?

I see from the map that Dalian is very close to the border with North Korea, dont suppose they do day trips ????

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## Chittychangchang

Sorry for your loss, safe travels.

Sounds like an old guy who loved life and lived it to the max.

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## Ratchaburi

Tax I was there 10 years ago it is a holiday destination for Chinese people.
No body was able to speak English there even asking for a bottle of water, we had to wait to see some one walk pass the window carrying a bottle of water.
Ordering food you need to look at pictures.
I was there for a exhibition, so did not get to look around.
Condolence for your lose.
I hope thing have changes for the better.

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## alwarner

Condolences to your Mrs., Tax.

Sounds like the old boy had a bit of adventurer in him and the story (apart from his death) raised a smile.

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## taxexile

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

The old boy certainly did live life to the full, but the consequences of his latest adventure have resulted in his family having a nightmare to sort out over there.

Apparently when a foreigner dies the police get involved and before releasing the body they will need to investigate his death, why I really dont know, he was 90 years old for gods sake.

He was with a distant cousin when he died, this cousin is a relatively poor man with little influence and understandably, does not want to get involved with the police under any circumstances and intends to go AWOL, thereby leaving the family with the job of obtaining release of the body and arranging a cremation. All this in a provincial town in a foreign country. 

The Thai consulate services, normally very good when it comes to helping out Thais abroad, don't want to know seeing as he was not officially a Thai.

Anyway, I expect we will have plenty of time on our hands whilst the officials and bureaucrats shuffle their papers and shrug their shoulders, so back to my question.

Anything to see in and around Dalian?

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## Latindancer

Dalian travel guide - Wikitravel

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## Dillinger

There looks a fair bit to do there;This looks worth a visit,probably before the funeral.

Japan-Russia Prison Site of Port Arthur (Dalian, China) on TripAdvisor: Hours, Address, Attraction Reviews

commiserations for the old boy

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## VocalNeal

Sorry about the old fella.  

You could try the beach?



FYI. My father 90 year-old father told me I don't need to go home for his funeral as he won't be having a church/big ceremony. I suspect your relative's sentiments would be the same.

This looks Ok though.

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## taxexile

> Dalian travel guide - Wikitravel



thanks for that, lots of useful info there.

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## Horatio Hornblower

Look on the net you lazy bstard.

Dalian Tourism Administration

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## Luigi

Nice story.

Was in Dalian for 2 days in 2006,

Nice modern city, very nice Korean massage lounges to chill out in. Quite an experience.

Got a ferry across the sea to get a train South. Not much more memories than that.

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## taxexile

can you remember which part of the city you stayed in?

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## Luigi

nope.  :Smile: 

the first night I stayed in one of the Korean Massage lounges, they're quite an experience.

Second night some place along the harbour. It's quite a modern, metropolitan city, with a big famous (nationally) football team. 

I'm sure that none of that helps, but good luck and enjoy it. It's a very different city to how many people would think of China.

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## Luigi

> There looks a fair bit to do there;This looks worth a visit,probably before the funeral.
> 
> Japan-Russia Prison Site of Port Arthur (Dalian, China) on TripAdvisor: Hours, Address, Attraction Reviews
> 
> commiserations for the old boy




You wouldn't want to get an itchy nutsack.  :Smile:

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## ossierob

have fun

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## taxexile

we are leaving tomorrow for 10 days there, doubt if the first few days will be much fun, but we intend to make the most of it after the formalities and cremation.

i travelled in china in 1984 when over half the population were wearing mao jackets and riding bicycles, and industrial revolution style factories were belching out black smoke. 

i expect i will be impressed, or possibly depressed, by the changes since then.

i detest all chinese food and have packed 3 kilos of scotts porridge oats as sustenance for my trip. the wife thinks i am mad!

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## Chittychangchang

> 3 kilos of scotts porridge oats as sustenance for my trip


At least you'll be regular :Smile:

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## grasshopper

Your wife is correct!

 :smiley laughing:

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