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Published: June 10th 2008
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When in Qingdao...
...one has to imbibe its namesake brew. It's a must. Ahhh....one last trip to Qindao, the sight of the upcoming Olympics Sailing Competition....a little sand, a little sailing (if vacariously) FINALLY time to kick back and relax. No running around to tourist sites having to see things...after all,we’ve seen the Great Wall already, and it’s counterpart in Qingdao is just the beginnings of the Great Wall itself. Who needs to see a piddly mound of baby wall!? Or historic mountains! Besides, the hills of Qingdao barely pass, or so we’d thought.
So we were off to seriously chill, and if that meant lying on the beach, taking in some sailboats...and, of course, some Tsiangdao itself...well, we said, bring it on!! But that was way back in the mists of last week. Between then and now reality hit us like a cold splash of green tea...the only cold beverage served to us on our three-day weekend! Perhaps, in retrospect, the fact that my computer at work picked up a virus from our hotel’s site on my initial forays of seeking accomodation COULD have been a warning....but I digress...
For this, our last getaway, we were on a tight budget, and the prices at the Beach Castle Hotel were just too
As is the brewery tour
After all did YOU know that beer was first discovered in mashed bread by ancient Sumerians? darm appealing - almost a quarter of some hotel prices we’d checked out. Besides, it was in the middle of the historic section of Qindgao, and choosing between old or new China is like choosing between a fine Merlot and a sweet Beaujolais...both have their merits, but metaphorically speaking we’ve had so much sweet our teeth are aching. Besides, the pictures of the Beach Castle resembled a German castle...and as the name suggested - on the beach!!
Leaving problems like computer viruses, behind for Monday, we went through our weekend get-away routine: pack after work on Friday night, set the alarm for 4 :00 a.m., get to the airport and 1 1/2 hours later, arrive in Qingdao, ready for 3 fun-packed days until our Monday evening flight back at 9:00 p.m. On departure everything went according to plan. In fact we were starting to feel like seasoned travellers (not even one bottle confiscated in security!) until on arrival when we were whisked out of the Qingdoa airport and into the taxi line, by the time we made our way up to the front and into our waiting cab we were dismayed to find that the driver hadn’t ever heard of
Antiques for Sale
The first actual store we've seen in China that sells old stuff for the sake of it...probably just to crazy foreigners. the address (or the way we were pronouncing it) but after a frantic search we found the phone number and a call soon settled matters, and we were off in a cloud of dust, speeding down brand new highways at speeds of 120 km/h...taking the corners at practically the same speed. we arrived - somewhat shaken -- but ready to RELAX.
From first sight of the 'hotel', however, we felt our chances of vegging slipping away, as we saw that it was located on the corner of busy roads, no beach in sight, and the castle part was a German Prison built in 1901. In fact, as it turned out the entire "Beach Castle" was the old prison. Our budgets may have been happy but we moved rooms after one night when our Belgian neighbours partied the night away. Thank goodness it wasn’t until after we’d checked out that we learned that the new rooms we were given were the actual original holding cells. But we figured it wasn’t ghosts haunting us - just our new neighbours stamping and laughing their ways through the uncarpeted hallways, or, well, we hoped anyway...in any case we figured, we came to relax,
Beach Castle
No beach, and no castle...that turret peeking around the corner housed German prisoners at the turn of the last century. not sleep.
But as it turned out, all of plans for serious "chilling" were for naught. Not that we'd have wanted to catch any rays on the beach. Even though Qingdao does boast beautiful shores, temperatures hovering in a coolish zone of 20 degrees celcius and a fog so thick one night, that we forced into shelling out the hotel money we'd saved for jackets...we'd packed for Shanghai temperatures...well, let's just say that along with our dream of a relaxing beach holiday, our plans to save money also went up in smoke...or should we say, fog.
But it seems that China and the concept of relaxation don't seem to mix, as once again we were positively blown away by the fact that Qingdao, like all places we've visited, is on the move! Once we left the historic area of old Qingdao, everywhere we looked castles and relics were replaced by brand new buildings, roads, parks and marinas...not that we ever succeeded in our plan to take in the latter. Soldiers were manning the entrances to the site for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition...but maybe we can watch it from the comfort of our TV in T.O. this summer.
Euro flare...
...was evident on the streets of Qingdao, so much so, we almost forgot we were in China. In the meantime, the pics below were provided free of charge by the airport, so we thought we'd pass them along. In any case, they provide the only view we ever got of the marina. And the rest of the pics are evidence of another busy holiday full of sites and sights.
So Auf Wiedersehen Qingdao, and thanks for providing us yet another busy adventure.
We'll save our chilling for the summer...see you all soon!!
Prost!
Amy & Roel
PS -- and if we don't catch you this summer, we'll see you in the fall when the blog continues on our return to the People's Republic!
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Carly
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Wo yao he Qingdao!
Hey Mom and Dad, Great blog entry.. Seems like the perfect trip to end the year in China. Looking forward to your arrival!! Love Car