I am going to Dalian, China in January for six months of language study. Does anyone out there have any knowledge of this city? I am looking to continue my training while in school but I know adapting to the environmental conditions will be a bit complicated. Cheers
No - no knowledge - but we hope you share pix and stories from there!!!
I’m in Guangzhou and have not been to Dailin but the biggest thing to get used to is Air Quality. And really really be careful of the water quality in the pools. The only time I have gotten really sick was after swimming in one of the “better” quality training pools.
Where is Dalian? I spent 2 weeks in Changsha which is the capitol of Hunan Province. Pollution was very bad and I would not have trained there. But, Changsha is one of the worst in China, so you are bound to have better conditions pretty much anywhere else. Guangzhou, and even Beijing were much better - and the time we spent in the more rural parts was wonderful.
In the NE … Liaoning Province.
Have fun. I’ll be taking a first semester Madarin course at the Univ. here next semester. On my next trip to China I’d like to be able to say more than “hello” and “thank you.”
I was surprised, and embarassed, that all the kids in most of the places we were spoke some English.
Have a blast.
Cool, good luck to your language learning experience. It’s much harder for westerners to learn chinese, japanese, korean … etc, esp. those confusing “characters” 
As for the OP, The air quality in those three NE provinces is pretty bad … it’s the industrial region. (… used to be that way, at least.) Very, very cold in winter but the climate in Dalian might be different as it is situated at the tip of a peninsular. Sorry, can’t be more helpful.
I was chatting with Murphy Reinschriber who is an athlete agent and race promoter/director for a number of events. He mentioned the new Ironman China is still happening some time in the future. I don’t recall the city though.
i heard that environmental conditions in dalian are better than many other chinese cities but that its very cold in the winter, jan and feb don’t see daily temps above freezing so it will definately be an interesting experience. i don’t think i will be riding much but definately running, they have a marathon in june and I will use it to lead into IM Arizona in the spring of 07. will post pics and stuff like that once there.
cheers
Good luck. I ran in Beijing, Changsha, and Guangzho on a trip to adopt my daughter and I can only hope that the exertion in that horrible air quality didn’t take years off my life. Sounds like the area you’re going to is far enough away from the major cities that air pollution may not be as offensive. It’s very neat to see crowds of bicyclists on every street -the country is very bicycle friendly. But can’t remember seeing any light tri-bikes on the road… you may be the first. The chinese wall marathon does sound like an amazing experience. Enjoy.