Qingdao Part I

Well were safely back home and what a trip it has been. I can now say that Qingdao has undoubtedly been the highlight for me so far in China. We chose Qingdao as we had been informed that it was a sunny, seaside City with many tourist attractions to keep you occupied. But our first task was to get the train there...

As I said in the last post, we only had standing tickets. Once aboard the train, we made ourselves comfortable in a tiny little doorway. Happy with the fact that we would be able to curl up into a ball and hopefully fall asleep for the 11 hour journey. But, with a stroke of luck, a ticket inspector pointed down the train and told us to go to carriage six. Unsure why, we dutifully did as we were told. Once there, we then realised that there was a little ticket booth where people seemed to be buying further tickets. So, armed with money, a smile and a pretend yawn to show I wanted to sleep, I attempted to buy better tickets. It worked! Ten minutes later I had three tickets for what we though were beds, from a station three hours away. Jackpot. Things got better as we then found a food carriage that more importantly stocked lager. One o'clock came and we headed to our beds, which to our delight turned out to be 'soft-sleepers', with quilts and cushions. We were overjoyed. Apart from a little incident involving a policeman who accused me of stealing his hat at 4.00am in the morning (a story I shall go into no further!) the remainder of the journey was hassle free.

When we got there, our hostel was fine once we had changed our four bed dormitory to a three bed ensuite - complete with western toilet. Off we went to explore. Now this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows my luck - it was raining. As these pictures show –

This didn't dampen our spirits however. The air was fresh and it was warm, something we haven't experienced in Shijiazhuang for a while! Things took a turn for the better not long after though - as the sun came out. We headed for St Michaels Church. Not far from our Hostel and a fine example of the German Architecture that exists in Qingdao (due to the German occupation here towards the end of the 19th Century I think?). As you can see, it was quite a sight -

Qingdao at sunsent was unbelievable. Whether from the side of the beach, or high up at a viewing station nearby, the City looked very impressive -

On our second day in Qingdao, we took a visit to the Qingdao TV Tower. Although it wasn't an entirely clear day when we went to the top, we still got some good views of the whole city. Instead of trekking all the way back down to the roadside to catch a cab home, we jumped on the cable car. When I say jump, I literally mean stand on a box and wait for this little old wooden seat to come spinning round - then jump on it as it carries you forward off the edge of the station. Not the safest method im sure you'll agree –

To finish off our trip, we decided that we had to go on the beach. So before we left on Saturday, off came our shoes and into the sea we went for a stroll. I believe we are stood in JiaoZhou Bay which faces the Yellow Sea (or so the internet guide tells me) -

All in all it was great. We stuffed ourselves with A chicken fillet burger, a twister wrap, large fries, corn on the cob and a large Pepsi from KFC for the return journey (cost = £2!). We had hard-sleeper beds for the return journey which flew over. Now its back to teaching and earning the Yuan we will need for our next planned trip - Beijing for the A1 Racing meet in November in Beijing. I cannot wait!

All the pictures from the trip are again on tinternet - Qingdao Photos