Last day in Qingdao

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Another foggy day in Qingdao. I really need to look up what they did when the sailing was here at the Olympics - the cloud/smog cover is so thick that I find it very difficult to believe anyone would have been able to see anything....

I think I am getting a cold today - not good times. Of course, it might just be delayed jet lag but I'm dosing up to try and fight whatever it is off. I'm flying back to Tarik's in Tonglu tomorrow and they won't let me on the plane if I am displaying any signs of a cold.

Yesterday was a tough day (!) I got a facial and then a head massage. The facial lasted an hour and a half and while the mask was setting on my face she massaged my arms and legs. It was soooo good. Really relaxing and only 80yuan (about 7pounds - just realised that this keyboard is Canadian and doesn't have a pound sign!). After, I went for a head massage which I was really looking forward to as I love getting my hair stroked. The good thing was that when they wash your hair you lie on a bed with a sink at the end of it so, unlike the hairdressers at home you are not sitting in one of those chairs with your head tilted back to an extreme angle. The boy massaging my head was very young and really skinny but he used some force. I have never has my head in a vice, but this felt like it was pretty close. I don't know how he had so much strength in him. It was actually uncomfortable and not at all relaxing as I'd hoped. When it came to blow drying my hair, I think western hair perplaxed them - at one point the guy walked off leaving his brush in my hair. But he persevered and blowdried and brushed and sprayed and eventually said he'd finished. I looked like a poodle. He did cut my fringe for me though, which turned out fine so credit where credit is due. It was certainly an experience, not least because all the hair dressing stations (is that what they are called?) had laptops at them, so you could access the internet while you were getting pampered.

We went to an Indian restaurant, Fatemah, for dinner -gorgeous food. My uncle has been living here for more than 50 years and knows lots of people in the city, including the owner of the restaurant - and he told us that he is Bangladeshi and married to a Chinese lady. When we went out for dinner the night before, our guests were the head of Chinese Immigration and a factory owner, both very nice people, friendly and sweet.

Today we're going to a market and then a night market. I actually think I will need to buy another suitcase to take back to Tonglu, although in my defence there is a lot more choice in Qingdao when it comes to shopping.

Today I finally managed to get out for some exercise, jogging along the harbour. Sunday is a family day in China so it was very busy with big groups of people, some flying kites, others just standing taking pictures. I got some funny looks as I went past especially when I tried to run across some private land - oops. I didn't stay out for very long but did compensate a little by climbing the stairs to my uncle's 28th floor apartment.

Tomorrow I am leaving Qingdao but I am really glad I came. It's a lot bigger than I remember and definitely a different side of China than that found in Tonglu. One of my favourite buildings here is shaped like a wave and made of glass. There are some really beautiful buildings, most very modern though. We drove past a hospital the other day and I remembered something interesting I read about Chairman Mao. He believed that people learned best by doing and do vast numbers of people we shipped to different parts of China to do different jobs. So academics were sent to the countryside to learn how to be peasants and peasants came to the city to work in professional fields. One lady I read about recalled being treated at hospital by a man who, up until a week before, had been a farm labourer! I wish I could speak Chinese because it would be fascinating to talk to people who have lived through the cultural revolution.

Although the weather has been quite temperate I took my North Face jacket out with me on the first day. I got in in the sale at home but it was still over 100 pounds. Now, it seems almost every shoo I wak into here as them (well, maybe imitation ones but they look the same to me!) for just a few quid. D'oh.

Tonight we went to an amazing restaurant for dinner. It's called South Beach and the food was delicious. Scexhuan Chinese again though so very hot. My favourite food so far is a little sweet roll they serve here that comes with a custardy kind of dipping sauce. I think at home it would be a pudding but here it comes in the middle of the meal. I will try and find out what they are called...

So tomorrow, Hangzhou. Can't wait!

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