Upon arriving in freezing Qingdao (ops no warm clothes!) we proceeded to our hotel and were greeted with a lovely seaview room and an even better view of each other if we went to the toilet or had a shower behind the half frosted glass of the tiny bathroom. We decided not to venture out that night as after our bumpy bus ride from the airport we did not feel the need to walk again! Enjoying warm Oyster Bay through fits of tired hysterics was the highlight of that day!Day 2 in Qingdao it was decided, woud be a meandering day ambling through the German influenced streets and alleyways while we awaited the arrival of our fellow Qingdao travellers. After requesting a room change and non smokefilled towels, we entered the streets armed with my new camera, ready to snap away at the sights.
And sights we did see....the beach (No 6 Bathing Beach), should of been called, at least 6000 people beach.....it was packed with people with buckets and tiny nets invading the many rock pools. Now some may assume that this was children...alas..the children were not the least bit interested in such plights and it was the adults that were dipping and diving and peering into the homes of many a sea creature!Sea food in big rectangle buckets littered the streets, filled with everything from baby stingrays, sea cucumbers and scampi to things that looked an awful lot like the male anatomy....hmmm...I guess I won't be trying those!
Dried fish shops used for Chinese Medcines stunk up the sidewalk and everywhere you turned you were faced with the putrid smell of rubbish bins...yes....this truly was a Chinese experienced....it really left me wondering...how could so many foreigners survive during the Olympics in these conditions? I soon found out a few hours later.
Luckily, the nosey people we are (thanks Mum!), we stumbled across St Michaels Cathedral, a massive westernised structure plonked right in the middle of a clearly very Chinese district...sore thumb anyone? Very stunning thou and with blue cloud poking through..the cameras were flashing...along with all of the wedding processions...it must be a lucky holiday.
We continued down Zhongshan Lu, an apparent shopping street (no western sizes) and found our haven - a mirid of alleyways with local, locals and where most laowai's had feared to tread judging by our reception. It was tiny and filled to the brim with hanging pork cuts, grains, fruit, veges, meat, fish...it was amazing and the people were great too.
We found amazing cold hashbrowns from a local stall and proceeded back to meet Ben and Belinda fresh off the plane and ready for some local beer and seafood!
I have taken a long time to publish this but will catch you up on the beer festival, Raihania's trip to China and Beijing soon!
Arohanui,
Amy xo
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