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Published: December 26th 2008
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It’s Christmas morning and I’m lounging in bed considering my day. I have Christmas shopping to do, a temple or other tourist sight to see, and travel arrangements to make. I’m thinking about these things, but I’m not moving much. My room is so cold, I don’t want to get out from under my blankets. Temperatures outside are below freezing and I can hear the wind blowing. I think the Chinese are used to having the room temperature much colder than I’d like it. I’ve discovered that if I use my computer in bed, the charger gets hot and keeps my feet toasty. I know that once I get moving it won’t be so bad, but I really feel like hibernating.
Other than lack of heat in the hostel, the place I’m staying in is nice. It’s an old observatory that’s still in use. There are two telescope domes, one has a real telescope that astronomers use and the other they’ve turned into a café with a nice view of the city. There aren’t many tourists here because Qingdao is a beach town and only the insane would want to go swimming now. The staff has been very helpful. They picked
Art Museum
Arcitecture is excatly the same as Korea... Colors are different, though... more red and gold me up at the ship port and helped me arrange my flight to Xi’an. It’s right near old town so there’s lots to see in the area.
Yesterday I went to the Tsingtao Brewery. (Tsingtao is the old transliteration for Qingdao.) I love beer and breweries and this one was fun. The brewery is a main business in Qingdao and they sell their beer worldwide. The tour is self guided which was interesting and relaxing. At the end of the tour they gave me a half pitcher of beer which was quite good. I think they gave me more than the ticket stated I should have and I breezed out of the brewery with a warm feeling and wished I knew how to ask for the toilet in Chinese. (I’ve discovered the pee-pee dance with an inquisitive look of “Where?” works well… and gets a warm laugh, too!)
Christmas has only taken off as a big celebration in the last ten years here, so the traditions are wide open for creating. Mostly the Chinese go out on Christmas Eve and have a tree, but that’s it. Last night they had a Christmas dinner at the hostel. The meal was
Peking duck (which I wouldn’t touch), tofu noodles, Kimchi, Mandarin oranges, some sort of Chinese bread pancake (delicious!), Tingtao beer and barley tea. I thought this was appropriate for Christmas in China.
…
Well, I finally got up and did the tourism thing in Qingdao. I went to see an old governors residence built by the Germans. Qingdao was originally a fishing village, but Kaiser Wilhelm annexed it just before the turn of the century and it became a German settlement (hence the brewery). All the architecture reflects this and the town looks more like a town in Germany than a Chinese city. Old Town consists of mostly German style things.
I did see a three story pagoda of in the distance and I tried to get to it. Every time I thought I was close, there was a detour and I’d find I was no closer than before. On the way to find it I managed to bump into the really pretty seaside walk and a nice art museum in an original old Chinese style building. This was all very pleasant and relaxing, but I still hadn’t gotten to that pagoda. It became a mission for me even though
Fancy toilet sign
Actually the toilet looked like any other squater I've seen here. seeing it wasn’t nearly as important to me as finally finding the place. I got there just before they were closing and found out it was just three stories of tourist kitsch. The view was great though.
Tomorrow I’m off to Xi’an which I’m excited about. I hear it’s beautiful and there’s way too much to do and see. Can’t wait…
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Kathi
non-member comment
Christmas in China and Florida
Hello there Tani! We have finally finished opening presents...at 8 pm! Well, we didn't start ntil 1 pm because Lori has to spend time with her in-laws on Christmas morning and same with Angie. It worked out brilliantly, and we are now all eating our hors douevers and waiting for the moment when Mom's cake comes out. We have missed you and are looking forward to talking to you when the SKYPE works. Mush love, Kathi