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Published: February 1st 2008
We finally set out on our travels to Japan on 9th after having packed up house in Tai’an and sent everything we didn’t need for travelling on to Nanjing. (This involved quite an involved and baroque session at the Post Office, and we are hugely grateful to Emma, Jack and Gene for their interpretation and help with sewing up the postbags.) We waved goodbye to everyone, were advised by all our students one last time to wrap up warm so as not to catch cold, Emma gave Amy a pack of tissues for the journey, and off we went.
Our first night was spent in Qingdao, A seaside town about 3 hrs by express train west of Tai’an. This was the first time we had taken an express rather than a normal train and the difference was startling. A swanky train looking rather like something that would be at home on the Japanese railway turned up, the seats where comfortable airline style seats, previously we had travelled by hard sleeper which involved sitting on the bottom bunk of a bed for 6 hrs. We felt it was well worthwhile paying the extra money, and it still came in at
One of the fermenting vats
Place to make lots of beer, also niceless than £10 each.
We arrived late in Qingdao and went to pick up our tickets, we where told that our ferry had been delayed by a day due to fog, so another day in Qingdao. As it happened the hotel we stayed in was just next to the beer museum so we visited that. The beer museum was great, very interesting, not bad English explanations, and a couple of chances to taste the product. Tsingdao is the most famous brand of beer in China and from that factory it is shipped all over the world. It was very interesting to taste the difference between the beer taken just from the end of the production line which was slightly cloudy and has a very pleasant yeasty taste and the product after it had been allowed to settle and finish being treated which tasted of fizz and not much else. I guess they have to get rid of the flavour so that it does not go off, shame.
Also while wandering around we stumbled across a whole street of mock house fronts from ‘old Qingdao’, with a mock sky overhead featuring fake clouds and tiny aeroplanes on strings. We
Strange concrete stautues
Outside the Beer museum celebrating beer. Sadly fountains did not run with beer. searched in vain for any kind of explanation. The locals were playing badminton in the main courtyard.
We set sail from Qingdao on the morning of 11th after the first snowfall we had seen in China. The first hour of so was fine, chugging gently out of the harbour however very shortly after thing went severely pear shaped, a nice strong wind blew up and the boat went up and down, we then got out of the harbour mouth and it proceeded to go from side to side as well. At one point waves were crashing on our windows 7 decks up. Needless to say we spent the vast majority of the journey lying in our beds groaning and wishing ourselves anywhere else. It probably didn’t help that the crew had put on extra speed to try to get back on schedule. Sea transport ok, travelling in January maybe not such a good idea, Sea travel in January bad bad bad. It made me think of all those sailors in past times who sailed in wooden boats for months on end, they were tough. Eventually, oh so eventually, we arrived in the blissful beautiful calm waters off Japan with
sharp wooded mountains all around us and after having our temperatures taken by Japanese quarantine control to check for bird flu we were allowed to unload into Japan.
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Laetia
non-member comment
Japan
I've not commented much but I've really been enjoying your posts; you sound like you're having a much better time than I had and I'm glad. I can't wait to hear about Japan but a small warning: if you find yourself somewhere called Izu, don't watch a video ;)