Blogs from Shandong, China, Asia

The train from Beijing to Jinan was quick, only about 90 minutes. Jinan West Station, where the high speed rail stops is quite far out of the city. The local bus stops in the small bus station just across from the train station. There were a few signs and I just followed some people, who I hoped were heading in the right direction. Jinan is famous for Its mineral springs that are all over the city. I had decided to head to Baotu Springs, which is the most famous. The K109 bus goes there from the west train station. The bus journey took about 40-50 minutes and as the bus progressed it filled up with people. It was also really hot and sunny, and I felt like I was being roasted alive in my seat. The ... read more

I had been wanting to visit Qufu for a while as it is only a couple of hours or so by High Speed Rail from Beijing. The train journey was uneventful and the smog outside got progressively worse the further we got from the capital. I alighted at Qufu East Station and headed over to the bus station next door as that is where both the long distance buses and the local city buses depart from. I think I took the K19 bus and it took around half an hour to get near the old city walls. I decided to scope out where my hostel was first and I was pleasantly surprised at how close it was the main attractions. I took a bit of a wander around. Qufu seems like quite a quiet place. Definitely, ... read more

Im Hotel war heute Kindergeburtstag. Das Geburtstagskind wurde ein Jahr. Anregung für alle! Ansonsten ein trostloser Regentag. Interessant war das Klo im Hotel. Nicht einfach zu bedienen!!!!... read more

Es gab zwei Fahrtage, beide lang mit 450 und 370 Km. Obwohl wir den ersten Tag auf der Autobahn fuhren, waren wir alle dem Tode nahe. Über 40 Grad. Man konnte das Visier nicht aufmachen, die Luft war zu heiß. Außerdem langer Stau in den Aussenbezirken von Peking. Im Hotel gab's interessante Speisen, zum Abendessen gab's knusprige Schlangenhaut und zum Frühstück"earthworm", das sind Regenwürmer. Der nächste Tag war besser, obwohl wir wieder auf Landstraßen waren. Aber es war nicht so starker Verkehr, die Straßen waren gut ausgebaut und nur selten waren überraschend Pferdefuhrwerke unterwegs oder es kam mir ein Geisterfahrer entgegen. Also ganz normale chinesische Verhältnisse. Penglai liegt am Meer und hat einen befestigten Hafen und zahlreiche Tempel zu Ehren der Meeresgöttin und ihrer Gefolgsleute. Dies besichtigten wir und wieder war es so heiß, dass wir ... read more

The morning began with dumplings for breakfast again. The owner of our guesthouse wasn't impressed when we told him the place we had been to the previous morning, telling us that, that place was number 2 in Qingdao and that the best place for dumplings was just down the street from the hostel. I had really enjoyed the dumpling from the day before, so this place would have to be good to bet them. We had walked past the dumpling place near the hostel quite a few times, it seemed never to shut. If the staff weren't in the upstairs part filling and folding the dumplings by hand, then some other members of staff were working in the basement, producing the filling/or dumpling skins. This place definitely didn't seem very customer friendly as all the tables ... read more