Day five, if we’re talking about the daytime itself, was actually pretty relaxed. We walked around the city center again and then went back to the hotel to rest. The more memorable part of the day happened later that evening.
My wife and I decided to take a walk through Dalian at night, leaving my mother and grandmother back at the hotel. As a reminder, we were staying at the Mercure. From there, we headed out along the avenue in search of some local instant noodles — something we could eat ourselves and bring back for my mother and grandmother as well.
It turned into a nice little romantic walk through evening Dalian. The weather was warm, and there was no reason to hurry anywhere. We walked past all kinds of exotic-looking Chinese trees, while huge crickets chirped around us and some very large bugs crawled nearby. All of it added its own atmosphere to the evening.
My wife is actually terrified of pretty much every kind of insect, but somehow we managed to get past that little obstacle. We definitely don’t have crickets that size back home in Kamchatka, and I don’t remember seeing anything quite like them in other Russian cities either.
Eventually, we came across a small shop — something similar to what we would call a little neighborhood convenience store. It was almost semi-basement level, but the selection of noodles was surprisingly good.
To be honest, I’m not always very good at choosing this kind of thing. I stood there looking at all the packages for a while and eventually picked some red one. Why that particular one? I have no idea anymore. I probably just liked the packaging.
We bought noodles for everyone and slowly made our way back. We walked under the streetlights, the evening was warm, and it was simply pleasant to wander without rushing. Altogether, the walk there and back was probably around two kilometers. Not exactly a huge distance, although I still think it’s always better to be a little cautious when walking around an unfamiliar city at night.
We got back to the hotel, brought the noodles in, and it was time to prepare them.
And that was when things got interesting.
My mother, my wife, and my grandmother all ended up with noodles that were more or less edible. Some were spicy, and if I remember correctly, one of them wasn’t really spicy at all. Mine, on the other hand, was so unbelievably hot that I honestly couldn’t understand how anyone could eat it.
A typical Russian stomach is simply not prepared for that kind of thing. It wasn’t just spicy. It was very, very, very spicy. So spicy that eating it was almost impossible.
I managed maybe two spoonfuls, and that was basically the end of both my dinner and my first real encounter with local instant noodles.
Well, I guess sometimes you just get unlucky. In a way, choosing noodles there is a bit of a lottery if you don’t really know what you’re looking at. You have to choose wisely — or at least understand what exactly you’re buying.
I’m sure China has a huge variety of delicious noodles and plenty of amazing food in general. I simply happened to pick the wrong one that evening. As I already mentioned, choosing things isn’t always my strongest skill.
So that was our little funny story from the fifth evening in Dalian.
Wishing you tasty noodles — preferably not the hottest ones on the shelf — and plenty of great travels and new experiences.
To be continued.