Tochi's Hut

Another backdated post.  Apologies for being quite long winded again.  I don't know why I end up writing so much for these trip recaps.  I also have no idea when Part II will be coming....

"Who cares about Taiwan" -Toyo

After the brief visit to Taiwan, my next stop was ShanDong province - 山東省. My first choice was actually 雲南's LiJiang 麗江. Unfortunately, the tours to 麗江 did not work out with my schedule, so I settled for 山東 and Mt. Tai, 泰山. As the saying goes "五嶽歸來不看山，黄山歸來不看嶽" - I might as well see 泰山 before 黄山. :-)

Following Rich's examples, I will spice up the post with some pictures from the trip. Unfortunately, the weather in ShanDong was mostly cloudy and foggy, which ruined the majority of my pictures.  The net effect was that colours came out less vivid and the contrast just was not there.

青島 (QingDao/TsingTao)

"紅瓦綠樹，碧海藍天"

青島 (QingDao) is one of three host cities for the 2008 Olympic Games - other two being Beijing and Hong Kong.  All the sailing competitions will take place on her beautiful shores. QingDao is one of the most beautiful and relaxing city I have visited in China.

When you land in QingDao's International Airport one of the first things you'll notice is all the Korean signs. Not surprising given the close proximity to South Korea (1 hr flight). Apparently, Koreans have invested a lot of money into QingDao and visit the big golf course in the city a lot.

青島 is a city on a peninsula in the eastern coast of 山東省. 100 years ago, QingDao was a fishing village. During the opium war, QingDao area was given to the Germans on a 99 year lease, much like Macau and Hong Kong. The Germans started to develop this city similar to how the British developed Hong Kong, envisioning it to become an international hub for trade and commerce. However, after their weak showing in WWI, the Germans lost control of QingDao. The Japanese, Americans and Spanish all occupied the city for periods after WWI, adding their flavours and culture to the city. This mixed Western heritage is what makes QingDao so unique.

Unlike any other Chinese city, 青島 feels like an European town. You would be hard-pressed to find any historical Chinese architecture in the city, but you can find several fancy catholic churches (i.e. 青島聖保羅堂). The streets are wide, the city is very clean and the crime rate is uber low. One of few cities in China where I won't be afraid to walk out at night. Their mild seasonal weather is awesome - max ~30C in summer, 10C in winter, with nice ocean breeze and no typhoons.

Very apparent is the fact that the government is really taking a lot of care in developing 青島. For example, the coastal beaches are adorned with amazing sculptures. The night market district is officially zoned for pedestrian shopping purposes. Beautiful murals are painted on the facades of the residential buildings around the night market district. Multi-colour lights line the main shopping area and all the side streets. The street vendor stalls, while crammed with people, are very orderly. Moreover, there aren't any smelly, stale water or garbage on the ground! You'd be hard-pressed to find such a night market anywhere else. I'm not sure how much of this development is related to Olympic preparation.

I should mention that I visited my very first Walmart in China at the night market here. Everyone kept saying there was a "沃爾瑪" here, and were getting really excited!! Their excitement perked my interest too. I had no idea 沃爾瑪 was just Walmart!  (沃爾瑪 in Cantonese is 'yuk yi ma', so sounds totally different). The 青島 Walmart supercenter wasn't too special. The grocery section had large pails of rice, yellow beans, red beans and other Chinese goodies. Other sections were like a typical North American Walmart. However, there was a huge books and manga section in the store. There were not any sofas/couches like what you'd find in a Chapters or Borders, so a LOT of people were literally sprawled on the ground reading. Quite a sight.

Enough of Walmart and back to the city itself. Famed activist and philosopher 康友為 described 青島 as "紅瓦綠樹，碧海藍天" (He didn't say exactly this, but something similar). Since then, this phrase (red tiles, green trees, jade seas and blue skies) has been associated with the city. Quite a fitting description of the historic center of the city. As mentioned before, 青島 feels like an European town and the main reason is the buildings in this part of the city. For example, in an area called 八大関 (Eight Passes), filled with double stories homes showcasing different architectures, ranging from German, Swiss and Russian-style. The neighbourhoods are very quiet and peaceful - houses with open front lawns, tall trees shading the roads, very little traffic and pollution. The look-and-feel really resembles some of the high class residential areas in other great Western cities! We saw a few wedding couples in the area taking their photos.

Had a chance to visit some of the more famous houses in this area. The first stop was the 康友為故居.  As one of the most forward thinkers of his times, 康友為 tried to introduce western like modernization reforms into China during a period of imperial instability.  He had the young (powerless) Emperor's support.  Unfortunately, the day before the coup, the Empress 慈禧太后 found out about the revolt and 康友為 and his fellow conspirators were captured or forced into hiding.  After moving around in 40 different countries, 康友為 finally settled in 青島.  This particular building is a German/Swiss styled villa, which after 康友為's passing, was occupied by the homeless.  The government, in an attempt to find historical places for 青島, just decided to make this building such a site, just for the heck of it.  The rooms were big and spacious, and there were a lot of artifacts from 康友為's descendents on exhibit.  The one piece I was most impressed with was this sofa set, which was a gift from the young Emperor.  Looks like a plain wooden sofa, until you closely inspect the engravings and decorations adoring the pieces.  Quite impressive.  Moving on...

Arguably one of the nicest buildings in the entire city is the former German Commissioner's residence (not really correct translation) (青島前德國總統府 ).   The building is like a mini castle without the towers.  Since Chairman Mao stayed in this building before, during the rebellion, most of the building was spared from pillaging.  The little damage that was done, however, were quite interesting.  In the ballroom, there were these human faces sticking out of the wall.  The Chinese rebels had a distaste for the German's long noses and decided to axe off a chunk to make the faces look more normal.   On the 2nd floor, there was a small light ball with an assortment of colour crystals.  On cursory glance, these rocks must be fake (not really polished or clear).  Apparently, this little ball is made of real rubies and gems!  Someone chopped off one of the rocks and took it home... smart thief.   The rest of the residence is really nice.  As you walk in, you enter this giant foyer that extends several stories.  There are two guest seats in the far side of the room.  From the second floor, there are hidden trap windows that lets the owners peer down onto those seats.  Sneaky!  It was quite impressive how they kept track of all the things that Chairman Mao touched or used.  This was the table, desk, seat, bed, bubble gum, etc that Chariman Mao used.  Maybe not bubble gum.  Overall a very cool and rare building to visit in China.

Another point of attraction is little QingDao (小青島).  小青島 is a small island just off from the city coast.  The island had bore the name 青島 until the city stole that name and bestowed it the title of Little 青島.  In the middle of the island is a park with an artistic statue of an exposed female angel.  All the tour mates (old guys) were all oogling, and the sick jokes started flowing out.  The island is also right beside a naval museum, which has the only PLA submarine on public display.  Speaking about the seas, there's a famous 青島 icon of a rock that resembles an Old man in a thinking posture.  I kept on thinking that was the Old Man and the Sea.  One of the best photography spots (like Kerry's Park in Seattle) is Fisherman's hill, which overlooks beach #1 in QingDao.  You can get a panoramic shot of the beach and all the little European houses in the neighbourhood.  I took a panoramic, but haven't had a chance to put it together yet.  Also, on the hill, there were a lot of people selling fresh strawberries.  Very tasty.

Likely the most well known symbol of 青島 during the Olympic games will be the ball structure at 五四廣場, as the shoreline along the plaza is the official site of the sailing events. Visited during the day, and there were people flying kites. Watching and hearing them zoom by was pretty cool. Aside from the kites, there were a few beggars at the plaza. They weren't like the type that invaded South Park. These were people who were missing fingers and arms, have ugly wounds, etc. I bet half of these wounds must be self-inflicted. Anyway, my group just kind of ignored them, but one of them came up and grabbed my arm while I was taking a picture. "Do you have any change?" WTF. WTF. WTF. You can ask nicely and I'd just ignore you, but why TOUCH me?!?! Later on, one kind hearted guy pulled a Kyle and gave a beggar ONE RMB. All of a sudden, a dozen beggars came out of nowhere and swamped us. We scrambled back onto the bus to escape the mob. I went back myself that night to catch some night shots of the plaza. The mob was gone.

Finally, the last 青島 icon I'll describe is the long dock/bridge 桟橋.  Historically, the bridge was a pier with a small inn at the end for sailors.  We did not actually go on the bridge as a group, since it was filled with pick pockets and beggars.  We've had enough of them.  We instead went to a Kodak photo spot to take pictures from afar.   For those of you who did not recognize the bridge, this is the same bridge as the logo of 青島 most famous product....

A visit to 青島 just is not complete without a visit to the BEER FACTORY!  青島 produces one of the most well-known Chinese beer - the 青島啤酒.  Actually, 青島啤酒 makes over 60 beers under different labels.  I'm not that much of a beer fan, but I've also liked 青島 beer for their light, refreshing taste.  Anyway, as part of the tour, you are entitled to unlimited beer (the real kind, made with spring water from 嶗山)!  My table was essentially comprised of non-drinkers, so everyone took a sip and I ended up finishing 3/4 of a pitcher myself; "so it won't go to waste".   My face was red for the rest of the tour.   Ironically, the best part of the tour was not the unlimited beer, but the PEANUTS.  Only produced and sold at this factory, these roasted peanuts uses a secret recipe of herbs to produce the perfect companion to 青島啤酒.  I fell head over heels eating these peanuts.   Everyone ended up buying boxes of these peanuts to go.  I picked up two boxes.  Seriously, these were some of the best peanuts I've ever had.  Something NOT to be missed.

to be continued....