Travel Blog » Asia » China » Shandong

Shandong Travel Blogs

Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

China

Map of China

China's Flag

Recommended Books:

Hostels in China
Latest Shandong Blog Entries
Shandong Photos

By Canucks in Asia
August 4th 2006

Blog 1: May Holidays

Asia » China » Shandong

Sleeper Bus
A look at a sleeper bus, common here... they're nuts... the two of us, Charlie, and Bao spent 15 hours on this one!

Blog 1: May Holidays So in May we had a holiday and we hit the road with Charlie, a teacher, and his Chinese girlfriend Bao Ling. We met up with two other teachers from the school Rachel and Patricia in Datong China, from there we went to The Hanging Monestary, some Buddah Caves, and the city PingYao. Because it was the holidays everywhere we went was packed with people. Crowds aside, the trip was great! enjoy the pics, there are more of Linyi and such to come. [View Full Entry]

By the_frontal_lobe_disinhibited
July 31st 2006

Missed morsels and fresh splatterings

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

The night of the Australian game in the World Cup
The first of the missing entrails I spoke of.

Before we begin a tale bound to shock, amaze and generally entertain the masses, we shall take a journey back in time with a few photos recently collected from Emporium de Scott... or Scottie's memory card as it is more commonly known. So please check the photos below to see fresh images of the filth you've already read about in the previous entry. The tale begins with two mildly tired individuals meeting at Anyang station at 9:30am on the morning of Friday the 27th of July. Boarding a train bound for Seoul they mad [View Full Entry]

By Imagine All The People
July 29th 2006

Sleeping In A Tea House on the Most Climbed Mountain in the World

Asia » China » Shandong » Ji'Nan

Morning View

Well.... our little trip to Tai Shan was definitely one of the most interesting 24 hour periods of my life. Tai Shan... Taoist and Buddhist holy place, center of Chinese creation myths, and the most climbed mountain in the world. The plan went something like this... we would take the train to Jinan, take a bus to Tai an, hike Tai Shan all night, watch the sun rise, hike back down the mountain (eight hours of hiking in total), and then take a train back to Tianjin and be there for class on Monday. We rode on a sleeper train from [View Full Entry]

By lisarenay2
July 27th 2006

training maids - a new grad school req

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Tomorrow morning I am going to the Qingdao Unemployment Agency with my boss to talk to people about becoming a maid - yes, the kind that cleans your house. And then on Saturday I am teaching a class called "Basic English for Maids" or something. You need to have a graduate degree in order to qualify to teach it. I'm kidding. But it really isn't all that easy. The main point of the class is to prepare maids to work in the homes of Westerners living in Qingdao. First of all you have to remember to bring your armor to protect [View Full Entry]

By lisarenay2
July 25th 2006

Infestation!

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

flying beatle
These things are about the size of a one dollar coin. They fly around and make buzzing noises. They like to come in the holes in my screen, but they are no match for my shoes!

This is my show and tell entry. Here are pictures of all the bugs that were in my apartment. When I first got here it was filled with roaches. I must have killed at least 30 of them all together. They are ugly and fast and I'm a girl and I was scared. I slept at my friends' place for a week! I felt like such a burden on them and a big baby too, but I couldn't sleep knowing one of those suckers could crawl on me at any moment. I bought myself this huge canopy bed thing that is [View Full Entry]

By lisarenay2
July 25th 2006

the sandals go one by one

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

This is a eulogy for my shoes. I was in the airport bathroom two nights ago when I got back from Beijing. There were stalls and sit down toilets just like in America! I was sitting down doing my thing when something splashed on my foot. I looked to my left and reflected in the pool of liquid on the floor was a grandmother pulling up her five or so year old grandchild's pants, having just stood up from sitting on the toilet. I said to myself, I sure hope that puddle that splashed on me isn't pee. I went back [View Full Entry]

By lisarenay2
June 26th 2006

A long day of flying and waiting

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to have a travel blog up and running. I am going to tell you just a little bit about my fun plane ride to China and then we'll move on to the more interesting stuff. When I got on the plane to Chicago, I was feeling much better about leaving. It's crazy, but I actually felt relieved sitting on a plane because I'd been so stressed out getting ready for China for the last three weeks. I thought "finally, a break"! But when I got to the Chicago airport and it was time to get on [View Full Entry]

By daveterry
April 26th 2006

Qhingdao Beach

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

[img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3085/97/200/DSC_6568.jpg" border="0" alt=""]We are kind of winding down to our last days in China. We've seen and done a lot so it seems as though we've been here a lifetime. When we browse through our pictures we don't really comprehend our faces. It all seems as thought it's someone else staring back at us, someone else that had all those experiences. Today was just a walk on the beach. Our taxi dropped us off at the far end of the beach and we worked our way back. There [View Full Entry]

By daveterry
April 25th 2006

Qingdao Market

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

We decided we haven't spent enough money on goods so Ruth and Lynn found yet another market in Qingdao. This one is the best so far. No pushiness, no grabbing, no yelling. Just a simple stroll through floors and floors of goods. Everything you can imagine is for sale here too. China has lots of goods for sale. It's a buyer's market. Ruth has been looking for a pearl necklace so finally got one here. Lynn said they were so cheap she got one too. Our driver, on loan from Bill's company, took us to the market and then back to [View Full Entry]

By daveterry
April 24th 2006

Shopping in Qingdao

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

[img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3085/97/200/DSC_6526.jpg" border="0" alt=""]Qingdao ALSO has shops. Believe it or not. We wanted to pick up some Chinese language learning books so went to the largest book store in the city. They didn't have what I was looking for. The same books on Amazon cost $30 each. Bill bought his in Beijing's Wangfujing for $8 each. It seemed so strange to go into a book store and not be able to read a single book! Weird. Some looked really interesting too. Rats. While I was [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » China » Shandong