Qingming Qingdao

Last weekend was Qingming, a 3-day holiday for honoring dead ancestors. We had a day off of school, so Anja, Stephanie, and I went to Qingdao. It's a coastal city in Shandong province, about 3 hours away by express train. It's considered to be a very livable city, quite touristy compared to Jinan，and like the rest of China, has undergone a lot of development in the last 10 years. This is particularly true in Qingdao since China was chosen to host the Olympics (sailing events took place off the coast nearby). The older part of the city was designed and built by the Germans during their occupation (1898-1914), so it has a rather distinct architecture. The Germans also established the Tsingtao (named after the city) Brewery, which still produces China's most famous beer (Tsingtao beer - think Corona).

I was anticipating western food (pizza) and espresso (Starbucks), and a few unplanned days spent exploring German-style architecture. I was also hoping for a room with a working heater, and maybe even a bathtub. These thoughts got me through the final freezing week of winter in Jinan, when it was just too cold to sleep. With these expectations, we set off from Jinan on Friday afternoon.

Stephanie has a relative (Shushu) living in Qingdao, and he offered to meet us at the train station and help us figure out how to navigate our visit, and even help us find a place to stay. How nice. And it was, but his vision of our trip and our vision of our trip were not the same. We actually had very little input. He and his wife met us at the train station and took us out to a great Chinese meal and told us about our plans for the following day. Since he doesn't speak English and my Chinese is still poor, Stephanie filled in what we didn't understand (80% at least). He then took us to the hotel he'd picked out, not too far from his apartment. The hotel didn't have a bathtub, but it did have a heater which was great since the nights there are still a bit chilly. I'd seen a Starbucks on the drive (horrendous traffic in Qingdao), so I was looking forward to coffee the next day.

In the morning, he picked us up and took us directly to a section of the city with some German architecture. We spent the rest of the day walking on the seaside and the nearby neighborhoods. The weather was lovely and the crowds weren't too terrible.

Marriage is still extremely important here, and love isn't necessarily that important. Matchmaking is still a big business, and shops like this are not uncommon. Stephanie was surprised at how funny this concept seemed to Anja and I.


There aren't too many curbside postal boxes, but the ones that exist are serviced by a China Post worker on a bicycle.


It's possible to tour the Olympic Sailing Center for a price, but I'm not much of a sailing fan.


This is a famous sculpture (Wind of May) in Qingdao very near the Olympic Sailing Center.
By day:

By night:



We walked all day and finally when I was giving up hope, we found a Starbucks. Unfortunately, just as I'd heard, the Starbucks coffee in China is as weak as dishwater. I made the mistake of getting a double tall latte. Forget coffee. There wasn't even much coffee flavor. Oh well. I was happy.


In the evening, we rejoined our hosts and went out to another huge and delicious Chinese meal. The seafood in Qingdao is incredibly fresh and varied (but it's not pizza...). Then they took us on the nighttime tour of Qingdao. There are so many lights and great views over the water. One of the local customs on Qingming is to light small hot air balloons while making a wish, and then release them into the sky. There were many people doing this along the water, and the night sky was filled with magically glowing red balloons.


The next morning, Shushu and his wife picked us up for a ride around Mount Lao. The government collects a fee for driving around the mountain, and for us it would have been $50, but some phone calls, some connections, some favors...we didn't have to pay. There is a famous Taoist temple there, and the traffic was very heavy, but the scenery along the water was beautiful.

Tea is grown on terraces at the base of the mountain and the view of green tea terraces interspersed with red brick buildings at the edge of a beautiful blue sea reminded me very much of the Mediterranean coast in western Italy. Unfortunately, there was no way to stop for picture taking.

We finally stopped for a picnic lunch on a not-so-scenic beach

and then headed back to Qingdao. And then to Shushu's place. He gave us a lesson on green tea culture and we talked about the state of the world while his very dutiful wife cooked for us. The food was delicious of course, and we had to keep eating past the point of saturation. There was just no way to refuse, polite or impolite. We were his guests. For the entire trip, in fact. He paid for everything, including the room. We practically wrestled to pay for the meals, but there was no way to succeed. This is very typical here, and also a bit frustrating, since the guest is almost like a child and has no control whatsoever.
Our hosts:


They do some creative things with food here. A stencil of a character is placed over the apple while it's on the tree, and the sun does the rest. This is a character meaning auspiciousness:


Did I mention that the seafood here is very fresh? That's a pumpkin in the shark's mouth:




Finally, on the last day, we had a few unstructured hours. We again went to Starbucks. I tried to get a triple, but they simply could not put an odd number of shots in the cup. Nor could I order a single shot. This wasn't a language problem, it was just outside the scope of what is commonly done and therefore was not possible. Tip: avoid Starbucks in China.


We then took the bus to the train station and briefly considered our options. There wasn't really time to do much, so we stood by the edge of the sea and waited for the train.


The return trip was five hours long, and then we were back in Jinan, and it seems like it's finally warming up.