qing dao
Actually the thought of going to Qing dao was initiated when a few of my classmates went to Qing dao separately and that there is the Beach there. So when people think of qing dao they
usually think of the beach and of course the Qing dao beer.
Day 1: started out cool, then rain/drizzle, night heavy rain
Arrived at about 8 am. Checked into some random “hotel” opposite the train station and signed on for a one day 崂山 tour. The tour bus also brought us to some Qing dao Olympic hall, tea place, pearls/jewelry place, seafood produce factory etc. back to hotel at abt 5 then went to buy the train tix back to Beijing. Bought the earliest train tix I could to get back to Beijing but still cabbed to the Air China building to check out the air tix back. Asked the cab driver what’s there to do at night, he said night market(but it was raining) and probably clubs and he said a lot of youngsters went to this pub called Feeling. After checking out the expansive train tix, I had my first proper meal of the day(noodles) and then went to check out the pub. They had someone singing Chinese songs from 930-10 before they play mainly English music like in a club.
I must say that the view was fantastic. The tour had a shuttle bus to bring us to some midpoint og the mountain before we cable car up to 700m and then continue climbing to the Li gate and Kan gate of the mountain. on the way up, in the shuttle bus, there were a lot of stone carvings and sculptures of the various famous Taoist as the mountain was the birth place of one of the 3 major divisions of Taoism. The tour guide explained the story of each of them as we passed but I was just hearing and not listening. The whole story telling just made me feel that the whole China culture and history, its philosophy etc is really博大精深. For a while there will be parts of the mountain or your view that has been blocked but the fog and a few moments later, the drizzle might stop the the fog clear for a while and the view was beyond fantastic. I was thinking to myself, even if you weren’t a xian or “god”, at the view, you must have thought that you have entered the third dimension :P The climb up was really tiring and it was really steep, challenging but the view at the top was more than worth it. Amazed by the beauty of this world, of what nature has in its full natural beauty. Dvds and vcds of travel, showing nature and other natural landscapes are often popular for some of the scenic are not easily accessible by the average man and thus they are often popular, especially among the elderly who would wish to travel but are unable to due to various reasons. Here I am, in CHINA , one of the most popular selections to view nature and its wonders, people buy the vcds to see it but here I am being at the place itself, nature’s full glory right before my eyes and within my reach, breathing in the mountain fresh air, feeling the caress of the drizzle, refreshed but the cool wind that clears your head of everything. You really have to be there to feel it yourself, all other means, be it video, pictures, words all fail to express the feel and the view in the most apt way.
But I was seriously freaking tired the whole day. The previous night didn’t sleep well as I needed to burn the midnight oil and have poor quality sleep due to the exam. Then night before didn’t sleep well as the train tix I bought was “hard seat” for part of the journey and the “stand” the remaining half of the journey(tho the rightful owner of the sit let me have the seat after a few hours and he stood instead), but it was very noisy and pretty packed and definitely no proper rest. So I was like falling asleep In the coach when it fetched us from one place to another. Went to the club at night but I knowing that going to the dance floor was “dangerous” so I only enjoyed my 5 bottles of qing dao and pop corn at my seat. The music was not bad but I caught myself falling asleep twice for more than half a second then I decided to head back to the hotel. Based on the weather forecast for Sunday and that Saturday night was raining like crazy, I seriously thought that Sunday was going to be a goner and just rain the whole day.
Sunday: weather was terrific! Bright, sunny and not too hot.
Went to check out the beach no. 6(which is just behind my hotel) and beach no. 2 aka Shi Lao Ren which was recommended by a few websites. Went to the Qing dao beer museum based on word of recommendation by the tour guide. Went back to hotel to change and put down some stuff. Then went to check out the Zhan Bridge which was also walking distance from my hotel too and watched the sunset from there. Had dinner then went to the night market and went since it was the last night in qing dao, decided to check out the lights and sounds and find a place to have a drink and have some nice music. Went back to the road that I was at tht previous night since there was suppose to be more pubs there and randomly saw and went into a pub called Club New York, where there was Filipino band which has been there for 2-3 years and the Filipinos never fail to impress with their voices. I didn’t really wanted to dance but there was this local lady who chio me so we went to the dance floor and within my expectation there was “trouble”. Weird middle aged China men trying to befriend me and buy me drinks and really cant dance at all. But the table of Russians beside their table were more interesting :P
The beach was really interesting. Mention the beach to anyone in my class and we would all think of bikini, sun tan, lazing by the beach like, the idea of bali or phhuket would come to mind then its really 入乡随俗, you got to adapt to the ways of the local people. There was hardly any bikini in sight, guys will sometimes be in trunks or bermuders, girls in not-so-pretty swim suits or 2 piece or they will be dressed in shirts and shorts and be holding an umbrella. No one was sun taning but all just playing with water etc or in tents or just standing or walking about. So although I was wearing a bikini inside, I only removed my top to take photos and of course it attracted some attention and I wore my top back again.
Travelling in qing dao was ok, as you can always get cabs but or ask for direction from the locals but sometimes their accent was kind of heavy and I just have to pretend I knew what they were talking about and then walked a little further off before asking other people for confirmation on the directions I was previously given.
Watching the sun set at the Zhan Bridge was good. Then I the poem by 李商隐
向 晚 意 不 适
驱 车 登 古 原。
夕 阳 无 限 好，
只 是 近 黄 昏。
Again, the chilly wind from the sea-land direction, sitting at the bridge, watching the sun set, watching people busy themselves taking photos and listening in to some of thei conversation, I must say that the whole experience was totally relaxing, soothing and it felt good and free. There was a kind of unmatched peace in the heart too.
The night club was pretty fun. Like I was saying I think that Filipinos always sing well and I thought it was a good combination to have a Chinese club on the first night and a more “ang moh” club on the second night where about 30-40% of the patrons were Caucasians. They sang old school, 80s, 90s, and a few others, English, Spanish, Russian. I really did enjoy myself there. But the middle-aged Chinese man was kind of irritating. It was fine by me if he wanted to buy me drinks and of caz I was remotely nice enough to talk to him a little but he wet my jeans! The first was when I was talking to the Russian and he wanted to join in the conversation but was a bit high and knocked into the Russian instead and caused the Russian’s martini to spill onto my jeans. Later on, when he wanted to cheers the beer with me, he suddenly lost his grip on his mug of beer and it spilled onto the table and “kana” my jeans again. It was really annoying. Then because I don’t have extra jeans, I had to wear the dirty jeans the next day on my train back to Beijing. Damn!
Well, I learnt more about myself or maybe I should say some obvious facts about myself during the trip? Well, I know I am not the people kind of person and prefer to have own time, space and target, I guess that was the best part about travelling alone. what time to wake, what and when to eat, when to go where, to stay for how long, last minute changes, it’s really free and easy! I must say Freedom is the most important asset a person can have. I also learnt that I can be rash, like how this trip went about and the fact that many a times when I have already made my decision, I will be very tempted to go make a survey of opinions about the situation, hoping to get some reassurance from the survey results but really, actually, sometimes, it really doesn’t matter does it? Then I also learnt that I really do like a drink and nice music at night to chill. Although some people say that I have a chiongster face and I would say that I am capable of chionging if I want to and am able to hold quite an amount of alcohol, I would like to do so sometimes but would actually much more prefer drinks and nice music, usually from a live band.
I must say that I have been very blessed throughout the trip as there can be countless opportunities for danger to happen or to meet with not so nice people but I would say that all the random few individuals I met were all generally nice in a way and I am back in Beijing in one piece safe and sound. The whole free and impromptu or little planning involved kind of trip was really fun and thrilling but I am also aware of the dangers involved, that’s why I sometimes quoted I was from hai nan. But there was once this guy was saying that Hainan was nice and asked where was fun and I obviously didn’t know where. So I was like “actually being a local, the places would all seem normal to me cause I am a local. I won’t know where to start cause they will only seem special to tourist” It was really nice travelling alone, I am not a very people person so I don’t really to mingling and making friends everywhere but I still do a little every now and then. But the only irritating part was that you would always need to engage strangers help to take photos of u and the place, during which u would have to choose someone who might be able to take a good photo and not run away with your camera. And obviously, I learnt to live with and by myself better.
usually think of the beach and of course the Qing dao beer.
Day 1: started out cool, then rain/drizzle, night heavy rain
Arrived at about 8 am. Checked into some random “hotel” opposite the train station and signed on for a one day 崂山 tour. The tour bus also brought us to some Qing dao Olympic hall, tea place, pearls/jewelry place, seafood produce factory etc. back to hotel at abt 5 then went to buy the train tix back to Beijing. Bought the earliest train tix I could to get back to Beijing but still cabbed to the Air China building to check out the air tix back. Asked the cab driver what’s there to do at night, he said night market(but it was raining) and probably clubs and he said a lot of youngsters went to this pub called Feeling. After checking out the expansive train tix, I had my first proper meal of the day(noodles) and then went to check out the pub. They had someone singing Chinese songs from 930-10 before they play mainly English music like in a club.
I must say that the view was fantastic. The tour had a shuttle bus to bring us to some midpoint og the mountain before we cable car up to 700m and then continue climbing to the Li gate and Kan gate of the mountain. on the way up, in the shuttle bus, there were a lot of stone carvings and sculptures of the various famous Taoist as the mountain was the birth place of one of the 3 major divisions of Taoism. The tour guide explained the story of each of them as we passed but I was just hearing and not listening. The whole story telling just made me feel that the whole China culture and history, its philosophy etc is really博大精深. For a while there will be parts of the mountain or your view that has been blocked but the fog and a few moments later, the drizzle might stop the the fog clear for a while and the view was beyond fantastic. I was thinking to myself, even if you weren’t a xian or “god”, at the view, you must have thought that you have entered the third dimension :P The climb up was really tiring and it was really steep, challenging but the view at the top was more than worth it. Amazed by the beauty of this world, of what nature has in its full natural beauty. Dvds and vcds of travel, showing nature and other natural landscapes are often popular for some of the scenic are not easily accessible by the average man and thus they are often popular, especially among the elderly who would wish to travel but are unable to due to various reasons. Here I am, in CHINA , one of the most popular selections to view nature and its wonders, people buy the vcds to see it but here I am being at the place itself, nature’s full glory right before my eyes and within my reach, breathing in the mountain fresh air, feeling the caress of the drizzle, refreshed but the cool wind that clears your head of everything. You really have to be there to feel it yourself, all other means, be it video, pictures, words all fail to express the feel and the view in the most apt way.
But I was seriously freaking tired the whole day. The previous night didn’t sleep well as I needed to burn the midnight oil and have poor quality sleep due to the exam. Then night before didn’t sleep well as the train tix I bought was “hard seat” for part of the journey and the “stand” the remaining half of the journey(tho the rightful owner of the sit let me have the seat after a few hours and he stood instead), but it was very noisy and pretty packed and definitely no proper rest. So I was like falling asleep In the coach when it fetched us from one place to another. Went to the club at night but I knowing that going to the dance floor was “dangerous” so I only enjoyed my 5 bottles of qing dao and pop corn at my seat. The music was not bad but I caught myself falling asleep twice for more than half a second then I decided to head back to the hotel. Based on the weather forecast for Sunday and that Saturday night was raining like crazy, I seriously thought that Sunday was going to be a goner and just rain the whole day.
Sunday: weather was terrific! Bright, sunny and not too hot.
Went to check out the beach no. 6(which is just behind my hotel) and beach no. 2 aka Shi Lao Ren which was recommended by a few websites. Went to the Qing dao beer museum based on word of recommendation by the tour guide. Went back to hotel to change and put down some stuff. Then went to check out the Zhan Bridge which was also walking distance from my hotel too and watched the sunset from there. Had dinner then went to the night market and went since it was the last night in qing dao, decided to check out the lights and sounds and find a place to have a drink and have some nice music. Went back to the road that I was at tht previous night since there was suppose to be more pubs there and randomly saw and went into a pub called Club New York, where there was Filipino band which has been there for 2-3 years and the Filipinos never fail to impress with their voices. I didn’t really wanted to dance but there was this local lady who chio me so we went to the dance floor and within my expectation there was “trouble”. Weird middle aged China men trying to befriend me and buy me drinks and really cant dance at all. But the table of Russians beside their table were more interesting :P
The beach was really interesting. Mention the beach to anyone in my class and we would all think of bikini, sun tan, lazing by the beach like, the idea of bali or phhuket would come to mind then its really 入乡随俗, you got to adapt to the ways of the local people. There was hardly any bikini in sight, guys will sometimes be in trunks or bermuders, girls in not-so-pretty swim suits or 2 piece or they will be dressed in shirts and shorts and be holding an umbrella. No one was sun taning but all just playing with water etc or in tents or just standing or walking about. So although I was wearing a bikini inside, I only removed my top to take photos and of course it attracted some attention and I wore my top back again.
Travelling in qing dao was ok, as you can always get cabs but or ask for direction from the locals but sometimes their accent was kind of heavy and I just have to pretend I knew what they were talking about and then walked a little further off before asking other people for confirmation on the directions I was previously given.
Watching the sun set at the Zhan Bridge was good. Then I the poem by 李商隐
向 晚 意 不 适
驱 车 登 古 原。
夕 阳 无 限 好，
只 是 近 黄 昏。
Again, the chilly wind from the sea-land direction, sitting at the bridge, watching the sun set, watching people busy themselves taking photos and listening in to some of thei conversation, I must say that the whole experience was totally relaxing, soothing and it felt good and free. There was a kind of unmatched peace in the heart too.
The night club was pretty fun. Like I was saying I think that Filipinos always sing well and I thought it was a good combination to have a Chinese club on the first night and a more “ang moh” club on the second night where about 30-40% of the patrons were Caucasians. They sang old school, 80s, 90s, and a few others, English, Spanish, Russian. I really did enjoy myself there. But the middle-aged Chinese man was kind of irritating. It was fine by me if he wanted to buy me drinks and of caz I was remotely nice enough to talk to him a little but he wet my jeans! The first was when I was talking to the Russian and he wanted to join in the conversation but was a bit high and knocked into the Russian instead and caused the Russian’s martini to spill onto my jeans. Later on, when he wanted to cheers the beer with me, he suddenly lost his grip on his mug of beer and it spilled onto the table and “kana” my jeans again. It was really annoying. Then because I don’t have extra jeans, I had to wear the dirty jeans the next day on my train back to Beijing. Damn!
Well, I learnt more about myself or maybe I should say some obvious facts about myself during the trip? Well, I know I am not the people kind of person and prefer to have own time, space and target, I guess that was the best part about travelling alone. what time to wake, what and when to eat, when to go where, to stay for how long, last minute changes, it’s really free and easy! I must say Freedom is the most important asset a person can have. I also learnt that I can be rash, like how this trip went about and the fact that many a times when I have already made my decision, I will be very tempted to go make a survey of opinions about the situation, hoping to get some reassurance from the survey results but really, actually, sometimes, it really doesn’t matter does it? Then I also learnt that I really do like a drink and nice music at night to chill. Although some people say that I have a chiongster face and I would say that I am capable of chionging if I want to and am able to hold quite an amount of alcohol, I would like to do so sometimes but would actually much more prefer drinks and nice music, usually from a live band.
I must say that I have been very blessed throughout the trip as there can be countless opportunities for danger to happen or to meet with not so nice people but I would say that all the random few individuals I met were all generally nice in a way and I am back in Beijing in one piece safe and sound. The whole free and impromptu or little planning involved kind of trip was really fun and thrilling but I am also aware of the dangers involved, that’s why I sometimes quoted I was from hai nan. But there was once this guy was saying that Hainan was nice and asked where was fun and I obviously didn’t know where. So I was like “actually being a local, the places would all seem normal to me cause I am a local. I won’t know where to start cause they will only seem special to tourist” It was really nice travelling alone, I am not a very people person so I don’t really to mingling and making friends everywhere but I still do a little every now and then. But the only irritating part was that you would always need to engage strangers help to take photos of u and the place, during which u would have to choose someone who might be able to take a good photo and not run away with your camera. And obviously, I learnt to live with and by myself better.
