• Day 15: Perfect winds: Dalian

    Cathy This was the day that Nicki had been waiting for. Over and over she had been asking, when are we going kite flying?

    We started out with a walking tour of the city, and we saw our first traffic accident. The way they drive in China is just crazy!

    Lissa They don’t stay in their lanes!

    Cathy There are no rules. As we were walking, we heard kaboom! Everyone turns around and we see this little fender bender—nobody was hurt, fortunately—and the hilarious thing was everybody on the tour started taking pictures! I really felt like a tourist, but that’s going to go down in my memory as the one little booboo we did see.

    We went to a park and we flew kites, higher and higher. It was fantastic. Nicki said her kite went the highest. It was a fun day—cool and windy—perfect for flying a kite.

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    Lissa was worried about getting back to the ship because we had reservations for Nobu’s!

    Lissa We had reservations for 5:00 so I wanted to get back by 3:00 to get ready.

    Cathy What do you have to do to get ready to eat?

    Lissa I have to mentally prepare! I had to study the menu—I wanted to eat everything. I liked all the stuff I ate from the other day, plus I wanted to get stuff I didn’t get to try.

    You know what was so good? Their eggplant. It was grilled Japanese-style with a delicate, light teriyaki sauce, but it melted as soon as you popped it in your mouth. I wanted to eat all of it, but I had to be polite and share.

    Cathy One of my favorites is the hamachi with jalapeno, you feel like you’re doing something healthy for your body. The mushroom soup came in this tea kettle—Japanese presentation just makes things taste better.

    Nobu’s had the best udon I’ve ever had. The broth was just really savory, not too much salt, you don’t feel like you’re going to swell up the next day, and the noodles—silky, firm and chewy. Oh, I’m getting so hungry! Are you getting hungry?

    Lissa Yeah, I want that now! Chef Seiji remembered Kara and me, so he made us this huge sushi platter. That was so good!

    Cathy It was a meal that everyone enjoyed. And the dessert? Oh. My. Goodness.

    Lissa I have to take credit for that, I discovered that.

    Cathy It was a chocolate soufflé…

    Lissa With sesame ice cream…

    Cathy And boy, did it go good together. It was light and dense and moist at the same time. It was drizzled with a vanilla cream sauce, and that ice cream! A Japanese touch.

    This was our final night. We would be getting off the ship the next morning, so we all had to pack before we rolled into bed. Did you take any Tums?

    Lissa Ha ha. I was stuffed and sad at the same time. This was our last night aboard Crystal. This cruise exceeded all my expectations—we went to these amazing places, enjoyed cocktails on the deck, running all over the ship with our kids and our families, and oh my goodness, the food!

    Cathy Don’t be sad—just think, we’ll be back! We’re planning our onboard workshop, remember? Anyway, the grand finale is yet to come: tomorrow morning we’ll be in Beijing!