Qingdao to Beijing

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28/01

Arrived in Qingdao late at night on the 28th, it was terrifying in the dark. Found our hostel, and met a few nice travellers before going to bed.

29/01

Got up early to find the local market to no avail. Several hours later realised that no one is going to open up early on a Sunday! Went to the Qingdao brewery and beer museum (where they make Tsingtao) to do a tour, which was very cool and indluded free beer and a look at the packaging line. Found the markets on the way home. Went to a little family run restaurant for dinner around the corner from our hostel - they had cspan on a little television, and we got to watch saome of Nadal vs Djokovic. A nice taste of home! funny though that even inside we were wearing coa, hats and gloves and the people at the tennis were sweltering with no shirts on.

Arranged to have lunch the next day with a lovely couple, Marco (from Baltimore, living in Beijing) and Xiaoyu (shaoyu).

30/01

Marco and Xiaoyu came down to meet us for lunch, we went outside to find it was SNOWING!!! Though I have been to the snow, I have never been outside while it was happening. Absolutely magical. Made my entire day. They took us to a very cool place which had private dining rooms and, though fancy, was cheap. Learnt that Marco works as a drummer in Beijing, very cool. From there we walked through beautiful little laneways towards the city train station, which is an enourmous german style building from the early 20th century. Bought tickets for Beijing for tomorrow. Then we went to the bay, which was amazing, especially in the snow.

Went out for dinner again with Marco and Xiaoyu, to a hotpot place. Best meal experience of my life. You get a giant bowl on a hotplate in the middle of the table, with two kinds of broth that are bubbling away. You then order tonnes of different little ingredients (eg tofu skin, tofu sticks, mushrooms, seafood, beef, noodles, lotus root, etc) and throw it all in then fish it out with chopsticks as its done. Everyone also gets to make a few little sauces to dip things in. Delicious! I tried Chinese strongwine too, which is not as bad as people say. Burns much worse than vodka but has a nice aftertaste I thought. Had a terrific time getting drunk with Marco and Xiaoyu, will miss them a lot when we go off to Beijing.

31/01 - now

Had a goodbye lunch with Marco and Xiaoyu, which was dirt cheap and delicious. Saw them off to their next destination and went to wait at the train station. Train trip (4.5 hours) in economy class was deluxe! Had loads of legroom, it was warm and comfy, and the views were brilliant. Went at superhihg speeds racing past cities, towns, fields, industrial areas, all looking sleepy as they were covered in snow and shrouded in mist. Amazing. Got off the train at abuot half past eight in Beijing, it was decidedly a lot colder than Qingdao, and that is saying a lot. Got lost again trying to find the hostel ( I think I am going to have to get used to that) but in the process met a backpacker from California called Rene who was coming to the same place because he'd missed his plane to Bangkok. We got to chatting and then once we found our hostel, shared a beertube with him and discussed politics! He left this morning before we could say goodbye. Very surreal!

01/02

First day of Feb yay! Went to Tianamen square and the forbidden city today. I have never seen anything like it, absolutely beautiful. Everything is huge. Missed Mao's temple unfortunately as its only open mornings, will have to try again tomorrow. I would have enjoyed everything much more today had it not been so cold. -5 plus windchill factor! I have been back in the hostel now for an hour and still am having trouble feeling my fingers properly. Eep. Pictures will say more than words can about the sightseeing we did today, so we'll have to wait until I get home to share the pictures.

To the wall tomorrow!

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