Trip into Town

First of all, Qingdao is an awesome city. It is modern, but it has fascinating history. The roads are wide, well maintained, and clean. New buildings are sprouting up all around the downtown area. It is bustling, but not overly crowded. It even still has the glow of a city that has recently hosted the sailing events of the Olympics. Maybe it was just the sun talking (while we were walking around the city it was one of the first times we have seen the sun for an extended period of time since we've been in China), but I really enjoyed Qingdao.

While we were enjoying it, however, I had conflicting emotions. I was glad that I liked the city so much and that I wanted to spend a lot of time there. It is close enough that we could make excellent day or weekend trips there. On the other hand, I was bummed that it is just far enough away that it isn't convenient enough to go in an afternoon or just stop by for a visit. If we are going to take the trouble to go there, we would have to stay for the whole day. Megan and I kept talking about how we kind of wished we were living in town. Oh well, at least we're nearby.

All in all, it took us about an hour and a half each way from our apartment into the city. We had to take a bus (about 30-40 minutes) to a ferry terminal, buy tickets, wait for the ferry, ride the ferry (15-25 minutes) and then take a bus or a cab into town on the other side. The way home took a bit longer because the wait for the ferry was about an hour.

The ferry on the way home was a bit of a nightmare. Well, the ferry itself was fine, but the process of boarding the ferry was awful. Imagine a room about the size of a high school gymnasium filled shoulder to shoulder with people waiting to get on a ferry. Then, after an hour of waiting, imagine that when a ferry arrives all of these people bottlenecking into a space about 3 feet wide to show their tickets and get on the boat. Then, imagine that all these people have the Chinese mindset that no one matters but them and that they will get onto that boat by any means necessary. Chaos. People climbing over chairs, pushing, shoving to get in. I had to box out about 3 people at once to create space for Megan to get through. It was very unpleasant. Nevertheless, I think we'll be going to Qingdao quite a bit, especially when the weather warms up.

The back half of the room before the chaos.

People shoving through to doors to the boat. This doesn't do the situation justice.

Anyway, here are a few of our photos. Click for larger.

Qingdao.

Megan on the boardwalk thingy. Those tents behind her were all little shops.

I wish I had that stroller when I was a kid.

The "May Breeze" Statue.

May Breeze again w/ some of the skyline.

This sign says "Huge wave is dangerous. Don't be closer please."

A Michigan sweatshirt in the wrong color that we saw being sold on the side of the road.