Green island adventure, part I

Sunset at Xiaomaidao Park

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday or Inauguration Day. Call it what you will (and I prefer "MLK Day"), Monday the 20th of January allowed for a three-day Federal holiday weekend. One of the perks of working overseas for the State Department is being able to travel on the occasion of American public holidays, when the host country's denizens still have to go to school or work. And with the massive movement of people that will start this upcoming weekend with the onset of the Lunar New Year holiday period (officially commencing from January 28th but many will no doubt take advantage of the calendar this year for a longer break), the wife and I decided this past three-day weekend would be ideal for getting away from Beijing 北京.

Initially Shu-E wanted to use the long weekend to visit Harbin 哈尔滨, site of a famous ice festival. Unfortunately, millions of other people share the same desire, and the only sleeper train tickets she could have secured meant sharing a compartment with two strangers, something both of us wouldn't have been comfortable doing (we're old and set in our ways). Instead she suggested Qingdao 青岛, a nearly 3½-hour high speed rail trip away from China's capital, and so we found ourselves on Friday evening at Beijing South railway station 北京南站, hastily eating a bowl of lurou fan 滷肉飯 (Taiwanese braised pork rice bowl) before getting ready to board:

Getting on the train in Beijing, where we departed at 1944 hours:

We arrived at Qingdao North railway station 青岛北站 at 2305 hours:

From there it was around a half-hour drive in a Didi (China's version of Uber) to our accommodations at the Haiyi International Apartment 海逸国际酒店公寓. We didn't get into bed until sometime after midnight:

If "Qingdao" doesn't seem familiar in this written form, think of "Tsingtao", the beer of choice at numerous Chinese restaurants across the world. At a time when China was being carved up by various colonial powers, the city's harbor and strategic location made it a natural target, with the Germans forcing a 99-year concession on the Qing government (and which explains the origins of the namesake brewery). Today's Qingdao is a blend of German architecture and modern developments. The sunrise as taken by Shu-E on Saturday morning from our room on the 36th floor:

This sight that greeted me from the bedroom window brought back memories of Shanghai's 上海 Oriental Pearl TV Tower:

The view from the 6th floor restaurant where we had breakfast each morning during our stay:

Following breakfast and a short metro ride, we found ourselves at the No. 6 Bathing Beach 第六海水浴场 (the city is a popular summer destination). There was a surprising number of people hanging out at the water's edge despite the cold temperatures, but my wife pointed out China is a vast country, with a huge interior and only a single coastline, and so many Chinese have never visited the seaside:

If the Huilan Pavilion 回阑阁, at the end of Zhan Bridge and jutting out into Qingdao Bay, looks vaguely familiar, it's probably because you've seen it on the Tsingtao Beer label: 

We didn't walk out to see the pavilion because of all the seagulls flying about. Having been the victim of gull fecal attacks on a few occasions, I was worried about becoming a target yet again, a sense of dread shared by Shu-E. In many seaside locales visitors are discouraged from feeding these avian cockroaches, but in Qingdao old women were waiting to sell bags of bird food to tourists as they emerged from the metro station:

As you may recall from my last post refrigerator magnets are a popular souvenir these days in China, but my wife was less than impressed by what most gift shops were offering the punters:

Walking uphill from the beach we passed by Villa Anna 安娜别墅, now a popular locale for wedding photographs and other romantic pics:

St. Michael's Cathedral 天主教堂 is a Gothic- and Roman-style church completed in 1934, and which managed to survive the lunacy of the Cultural Revolution despite being badly damaged:

Down the hill from the cathedral is Zhongshan Road 中山路, which became a regional financial hub in the early years of the 20th century, home to many private banks, insurance companies and even pawn shops:

It was there that we had lunch, and the first of many Tsingtao's to be downed over the long weekend:

The restaurant's specialty was seafood dumplings:

I've never been a big imbiber of Tsingtaos other than when eating at Chinese eateries, so I was surprised to come across the many different varieties seemingly only available in Qingdao. We bought these six below from a beer shop on Zhongshan Road and had them shipped to our home in Beirut* Beijing. Look me up on Facebook to see in which order they get consumed: 

Back on Zhongshan Road, and admiring the former site of the Qingdao branch of the Bank of Communications (1929-31) 交通银行青岛分行旧址:

Unlike in Taiwan, it isn't common to find Japanese on storefronts in China (for obvious historical reasons). The words inform passersby (presuming they can read 日本語) that stylishly new, high quality and reasonably-priced fashion suitable for all seasons can be found within. Or something along those lines:

A side street piqued our curiosity:

We came across a movie or TV drama being filmed there. A young Westerner dressed in 1940s/50s-style clothing was directed to look around frantically while extras filed by him. We saw at least two takes done before we moved on:

At the end of Zhongshan Road we hailed another Didi to take us to the next stop on Shu-E's itinerary,  Signal Hill Park 青岛信号山公园, so-called because the tower on the top was used to signal incoming ships after the port of Qingdao was built. One of the many views while walking uphill:

 

Our entrance ticket included a voucher for a free ice cream bar:

Looking at Huilan Pavilion in the distance through the glare and the smog:

Where the signal tower once operated now stands a rotating sightseeing observatory:

The 1908 Protestant Church 基督教堂 (lower right below) was barely visible in the smog (the AQI was over 180 that day):

Yet another Didi then took us to Xiaomaidao Park 小麦到公园, located on a small circular island and now a romantic spot to gaze at the setting sun. This was the view looking toward a large Mazu statue, aka the Haishang Goddess Sculpture:

My wife the videographer:

Our fourth (and final) Didi ride of the day (they were all very cheap) took us back to our hotel. It was there, looking down at the May Fourth Square 五四广场, that a nightly illumination show (every evening except Mondays) takes place on the buildings around the bay, starting around 1840 and finishing at 2100. We had an excellent view from our room, the main reason Shu-E chose this particular hotel for us to stay:

We then ventured outside to have a closer look. Our hotel was one of the buildings lit up:

The "May Wind" 五月的风 sculpture:

At one point all the buildings became an immensely long advert for Coca-Cola, which must have cost the corporation a hefty sum:

The ghostly specters in the background were created by high-rises that weren't illuminated:

Our first full day in Qingdao ended at a hotpot restaurant across from our lodgings:

Yet another offering from the Tsingtao brewery: 

The Wagyū 和牛 beef we enjoyed at dinner would prove to be a brief respite from the onslaught of seafood to come for the rest of this trip:

Moon over Qingdao:

What we did on Sunday and Monday is up next. To be continued at the same bat time, on the same bat channel...

*Kudos to the eagle-eyed reader who pointed out that I had originally written the name of the Lebanese capital instead of the Chinese one. As to why I did that, I can't really say. There was a position in Beirut on a recent bid list, but it had been removed before I ever gave serious consideration as to whether I should submit a bid.