Fujiazhuang -- the world's busiest beach

 Dalian is a beach town in northeastern China. Every summer the city hosts a huge beer festival, so after checking into my hotel I headed straight for that. Above photo, nice idea to include a consulting service for the uninitiated like myself.

 What do the female Chinese employees wear at the beer festival? Bavarian dresses of course!

 Along with thousands of gallons of beer, street food was also readily available.

The next morning I headed out to Fujiazhuang Beach. That entailed a 45 minute taxi ride during rush hour but hey, how often to you get a chance to visit the most crowded beach in the world?

 As a seaside town, the main tourist activities seem to be eating seafood, drinking beer, and going to the beach.

 I recently saw these in Busan, South Korea, as well. Urechis unicintus, a type of marine spoon worm, is often referred to as the penis fish. Not sure how these are prepared -- being a vegan, I didn't try any.

 For westerners who prefer something a little less exotic.

 As for myself, I opted for the veggie platter at the hotel restaurant. For 29 yuan, or about $4, I got a delicious meal cooked right at my table.

 Spotted this person in downtown Dalian selling knock-off goods out of a van.

 A 6-syllable name. I don't know a lot of 6-syllable words, though one does come to mind: nonpossibilities.

 Above photo and below: Not a whole lot to do in Dalian, though I liked Labor Park so much I went there twice.

 Dalian North Train Station: time to head home to Beijing. Lots of other people heading there as well.

Long ride home. The train ride took 8.5 hours instead of the normal 6.5, and at one station we sat for an hour. This wouldn't have been that bad if  I could've gotten out and stretched, but for some reason we were not allowed out on the platform and the train doors were kept locked.