I first visited Qingdao with my wife and parents back in the fall of 2002. I remember the date and time because the Giants were making their world series playoff run and we were able to catch parts of the national league playoff games on what passes for ESPN here. Qingdao, as a second tier China city wasn’t super impressive at that time and while it attracted its fair share of domestic tourist, very few international tourist went there. (the foreigners in town consisted largely of Korean and Japanese business folks and the ever present Russians). Over the years, we’ve visited Qingdao maybe three times and each time it gets a bit better in my estimation. Or maybe I am just getting used to it.
On this trip, we were supposed to stay one night in Qingdao and then travel to another location for several nights. I wasn’t exactly sure of the duration or the destination. When we got to Qingdao, it turned out we would be with a small group of folks on a self organized tour. Each day we would travel to that night’s destination. This didn’t seem like the best idea given we are lugging three kids and three kids luggage. So we decided just to stay in Qingdao and make the best of it, after all we had a great hotel near the beach. The problem was the hotel only had rooms for us for that first night, after that we’d have to find another hotel which could be difficult because it was October holiday week. That set Yang’s dad into action, starting at 6AM he started calling his contacts and his contact’s contacts. At 7:30am our hotel room phone rang and the front desk said “your room key is ready” which confused me until I learned of Yang’s dad’s efforts.
On that first day in Qingdao we went to Laoshan mountain and got near but did not go into an operational Taoist temple. In an effort to reduce scalping and ticker forgery, when you first use you Laoshan mountain ticket, they take an electronic finger print (take that US customs). Later, upon each successive place of entrance they check if the fingerprint matches. We ended up taking a cable car to the top of the mountain and having a light snack. This being China, at the top of the mountain they sell the oddest things and Aidan bought a small bow and arrow. A couple of days later he was disappointed when they would not let him take it onto the plane.
The Beijing 5 at the top of Laoshan
The next day we went to a carnival/amusement part in Qingdao. Amusement park rides in China are kind of like used cars that say “runs great” because the look like crap on the outside. The amount of faith I put in that they are actually operational is a testament to my optimistic nature. In any case, the kids loved it. I would have liked a little less over amplified music and a few more benches, but otherwise it was fun.
Much of the rest of the time was spent either at meals or at the beach. The weather, especially the first two days, was awesome fall weather with the ocean breezes remaining me of my previous home. I even started to think a second home in Qingdao would be a good idea to get away from the big city because sometimes you just need to get away (that said, Qingdao population is 8 million). The kids loved the beach and since there are few foreigners there, they got plenty of attention. They are used to it now, as we parents are, and we just roll with it. I love seeing how the kids play at the beach. On the last day, I say Aidan and Lydia digging a big hole and lying a paper bag across the top of it and then putting sand on top of the bag. I asked them what that was for. It was a fake beach floor to catch the unsuspecting foot. They thought this was hilarious and Aidan demoed the effect.
Other highlights of the trip included seeing brides and grooms on the beach (for pictures) and outside a starbucks clone coffee shop (getting married). The food was pretty by 3x3 Chinese heavy on the seafood and there was the baiju party I already wrote about. But the main highlight for me was just spending time with Yang and the kids and finding that groove where everything makes sense.