Blogs from Qingdao, Shandong, China, Asia - page 9

This afternoon I went to the Beer Fest. Or the Qingdao International Beer Festival, if you want to be specific. It was quite a spectacle. Some highlights were the Chinese woman singing the “lonely goatherd” song and two men juggling hats and catching them on their heads, etc. There was a certain brand of chuanr being sold where all the guys selling it were dancing to music blaring from speakers at their stalls. Some were more into it than others. There was one guy in particular, who also had a whistle in his mouth who was enthusiastically dancing every time I walked past. There were lots of festival type rides in one section. Different brands of beer had different tents set up in another area, usually with a stage and a singer. It seemed like most ... read more

Today I checked out some shops geared toward souvenir-hunting tourists and was largely disappointed. The highlight of today was visiting Number Six Bathing Beach as the sun was setting. I took some pictures there, focusing on the Huilan Pavilion, which appears on Tsingtao Beer’s label. My two-night streak of having the dorm to myself is broken. Three guys moved in this afternoon. I never mentioned this, but my hostel is pretty much located in the middle of a park. It’s very picturesque. Today I sat out at a little table in a wooded area long enough to find out that there’s plenty of ferocious mosquitoes in these parts.... read more

Today I walked along the Seaside Sightseeing Pathway, until just past Number One Bathing Beach. I made a stop in Lu Xun Park, which was cool. It even had a sculpture of him. I also got to admire the Xiao Qingdao Lighthouse. It has that name because it’s on little (xiao) island (dao). Qingdao can be translated as “green island,” by the way. Qing can also mean blue or black. I also saw a lot of things for sale that were made out of seashells. Or just polished shells. Not to mention ice cream and cold drinks. I also stopped to play on some rocks for a while. There were a bunch of weird bugs crawling around on the rocks, which were fun to watch. This evening I found a store with a lot of things ... read more

The train ride to Qingdao was rather uneventful, aside from being impressed by the whole bullet train thing. Hard seat class was like being on an airplane, right down to the airsickness bags they passed out. They also passed out small bottles of water. The seats were adjustable (backs reclined and seats could move forward or back). There was lots of legroom and fold down tables. There were a handful of stops, the first being at Tianjin West Station, which was exactly an hour after departure. The sign that we were greeted with as we pulled into the station at Qingdao referenced the Olympics. The touts around the station spoke to me in Chinese. A refreshing change, but I already had reservations at a hotel. At the hostel, they started to tell me that the fee ... read more

On Monday, June 18th, I went to the seaside city of Qingdao for a few days with my friends Jen and Claire. What started as a lovely getaway to the sea ended up a bit of a disaster. I'll start at the beginning. The train ride to Qingdao is only 2.5 hours, we chatted and slept along the way. The train station in Qingdao is near the water, in a prime location. Unfortunately, it's being entirely rebuilt since Qingdao is hosting the sailing races in the 2008 Olympics. So, the train takes you to Sifang, a suburb of Qingdao. When we got off the train, there were people trying to sell us maps and hotel rooms - they can spot a foreigner a mile away! We bought a map and some popsicles and then we took ... read more