After a chilly spring full of busyness, we escaped during May holiday to Qingdao in Shandong province. Our pals Josh and Coco met us there for the adventure. We were excited to get out of the city! We decided to rent a car to explore freely. We woke up to a morning of fog then hit the city! Qingdao has a colorful history- it was occupied by Germans which is evident in the architecture around town.
Day 1:
- Brunch at Kiwi (35 rmb eggs benedict)
-Cathedral [under construction]
-Protestant Church
-The Guesthouse
-Qingdao beer museum & Seafood street
-Pier [invisible, so we ate BBQ seafood instead]
-Dinner back @ the Guesthouse.
Day 3: Laoshan! Hiking to the waterfall (to be honest we never made it....) Then we hit the beach- as wide as a football field, and stretching as far all the way down the coast. There were a lot of people (it was a holiday) but it was not crowded at all! It was roughly lunch time so we walking for a resturant- not a single one in sight! Not even a convenience store to buy pop! It was about 90% residential. WE hit the one hotel on the beach- an extravagant square building with pillars, declaring itself the center of the beach. They were still under construction so we kept trotting, til Josh yelled, "FOOD!" And we saw a large inflate-a-rainbow and a cool outdoor patio with resturant. Like straight out of Socal- wicker chairs, beach umbrellas, and really tanned people.
Day 1:
- Brunch at Kiwi (35 rmb eggs benedict)
-Cathedral [under construction]
-Protestant Church
-The Guesthouse
-Qingdao beer museum & Seafood street
-Pier [invisible, so we ate BBQ seafood instead]
-Dinner back @ the Guesthouse.
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| Qingdao is between Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul. |
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| Qingdao beer museum- and drinking beer out of a bag. |
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| Real hops, antique tanks, and super realistic creepy mannequins. Day 2: in Transit We rented a car and headed to check out Badaguan, bought hammocks, then drove up one hour to Laoshan. Ran into trouble with the checkpoints, permits, passes, but enjoyed the scenary. Finally we got up the mountain but couldn't find the Guesthouse, and took jump photos in an empty swimming. We scoped out the territory, and then dined under the stars. |
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| Handmade hammocks and the beach. |
Day 3: Laoshan! Hiking to the waterfall (to be honest we never made it....) Then we hit the beach- as wide as a football field, and stretching as far all the way down the coast. There were a lot of people (it was a holiday) but it was not crowded at all! It was roughly lunch time so we walking for a resturant- not a single one in sight! Not even a convenience store to buy pop! It was about 90% residential. WE hit the one hotel on the beach- an extravagant square building with pillars, declaring itself the center of the beach. They were still under construction so we kept trotting, til Josh yelled, "FOOD!" And we saw a large inflate-a-rainbow and a cool outdoor patio with resturant. Like straight out of Socal- wicker chairs, beach umbrellas, and really tanned people.
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| Awesome lone beachside restaurant! |
We took a seat and asked for a menu. The waiter came with a plate of meat and toothpicks.
Uh, we didn't order that. Could we see a menu?
It's free! Mian fei! Everything in these two rooms is free! Welcome and help yourself! Its our grand opening!
We looked at each other incredulously. Free? A whole lunch buffet? Fancy potato salad-in-a-cup topped with smoked salmon. Creamy seafood chowder (with identifiable clams!) in a whole what bread bowl. We savored every bite. There was a HUGE chocolate sheet cake, that the frosting had begun melting off, and the congratulatory words were slowly sliding off the cake. Cream puffs, pink drinks in fun glasses were arranged in a 5 layered pyramid. Wow! We were thankful for that delicious free meal! A gift from God, really!
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| The car we rented to go to Laoshan. |
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