Exploring Qingdao

Tuesday, June 22, 2010--Qingdao   I left the hotel at 10:00 and went eastward to search for a nearby beach.  I found one, and it was swarming with brids and grooms, especially the rocky areas to the sides of the beach.  I know that every city has a special place for outdoor wedding photos, but on the rocks protruding into the water (and even standing sometimes in the water) seems like a strange one.  The wind was blowing the women's hair.  The bottoms of their dresses were getting wet and dirty.  The men looked too casual with their pants legs rolled up and their shoes off.  In an effort to make something special, I even saw a photographer hand a bride two hot dogs on sticks to hold during one photo!   The coast here reminds me a bit of the California coast.  There are long-needle pine trees and lots of ground cover/underbrush and rather steep hills leading up from the water.  There are large red stone outcroppings into the water.  The beaches tend to be rather small.  The city has a waterside walkway for over 40 km (25 miles) along the coast.  It connects the beaches and the sites such as the Olympic Sailing Center and the Yacht Club.  Along the route are also small pocket parks with lush trees and greenery.  It's pretty.   After spending some time walking and exploring eastward, I caught a bus downtown to the train station.  I wanted to make sure which bus to take tomorrow, and I wanted to know how long it would take.  From there, I walked back to my hotel along the seaside walkway.  It was a LONG walk taking me about 4 hours, especially since I walked part of it on beaches.    My favorite beach, I think was Number 1.  (The Chinese, since the Communist takeover, have named many things by number.  Before their move toward capitalism, even the department stores were named Number 1 or Number 2!)  It was the most crowded with people really enjoying themselves.  I saw a man giving another man a haircut there.  I saw several people getting pedicures at the beach.  One activity that seems to be popular is to cover oneself with sand.  Many people were doing that.   I saw something nice that I have seen before but have failed to write about so far.  At one pocket park, a group of men were playing a card game.  Hanging in the trees all around them were bird cages with the birds making such happy sounds.  It is common in China for people to take their caged birds to the park for a daily outing in the fresh air.    For some reason, I was craving bananas.  I stopped and bought some bananas before returning to my room.  I was really exhausted after such a long outing.  I tried watching the news in English.  It was strange.  I had watched that channel yesterday, but I could not find it tonight on my TV.  I used the auto-programming feature in case a maid or someone had deleted it, but it still didn't come up.  Wonder what happened?