Qingdao--Last Stop before Going to Beijing to Fly from China

Saturday, June 19, 2010--Dalian and on the Boat (Continued)   Just a few moments after leaving the hotel, the rain began.  I ducked inside a mall.  It ended later for the rest of the day, but I just stayed in the area around the mall.  I found a quiet bench on an upper floor and read in my current book.  Occasionally I would take a break and go outside to watch entertainment in the pedestrian area--a singer at a stage for LG Electronics, and dancers on a stage for a company selling pressure cookers.    I also had my book I had finished with me and kept watching for someone who might look like an English speaker.  Suddenly I saw a woman with short hair who looked to be around 60.  She was Canadian, and she and her husband have been living and working here for two years.  She was very happy to get the book, and I was very happy to get rid of the weight.   Finally, the day passed, and I returned to the hotel and got my luggage at 19:00.  I went across the street to get the bus to the port area.  Everyone there was so helpful making sure I got the right bus and knew where to wait for it.  The bus didn't leave until 20:00 even though the boat was scheduled to leave at 20:30.   It all seemed a bit confusing at the port.  We all unloaded and went into the large terminal building.  It became almost impossible to keep track of who had been on my bus or not.  I lined up to go through security.  Then I headed down the hallway trying to find where to go.  I saw a sign showing a boat that would leave at 20:30.  Fortunately, I checked by showing my ticket.  It wasn't my boat.  They sent me back to another area where I found people I recognized from my bus.  At 20:25, they let us through the doorway.  But instead of going to a boat, it took us to the ground level and another bus.  We rode it to a large ferry where we finally boarded at 20:30.  At 20:35, the boat started moving.  What a close call!   I was in a compartment built for 6 people with 6 bunk beds and a sink.  Men and women are apparently separated in different compartments.  Only three of us were in my compartment.  My ticket was for an upper bunk.  The other men insisted that I move to the empty lower one.  But I kept worrying that maybe someone else would be there with us and would find me in his bed; he could have gone to the dining room before coming to the cabin.  Fortunately, this never happened.   I decided I should go to the toilet before going to sleep.  It became quite a difficult situation.  The map of the floor on our door did not show where they were located.  I exited and went to the counter where there were several employees.  None of them knew the word, "Toilet."  I took a piece of paper and drew a male and a female figure side-by-side with a box around them.  They thought I wanted to change to a room for two people!  Finally, I took a woman back to my room where the men told her what I wanted in Chinese.  She asked, "WC?"  Finally, we understood each other and she directed me there.   Sunday, June 20, 2010--Qingdao   We came off the boat at 3:00.  We really only got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep before docking.  I had another bit of confusion at that point.  I had a ticket in my hand to take me to Qingdao by bus.  There were many buses there.  A man was saying, "Qingdao," so I showed my ticket to me and he took me to a bus.  I got on, but no one else seemed to have a ticket.  I began to wonder if there was another company with a Qingdao bus among them all and whether I might be on the wrong one.  Eventually, I got it confirmed that I was on the right bus.   Unfortunately, we did not leave immediately for Qingdao.  We went into the nearby city and sat at their bus station for 2 hours!  Then we made several stops on the way out of the city to pick up more people and then many stops coming into Qingdao to let them off.  We didn't arrive at the bus station in Qingdao until 10:00!   My hotel was no where near the bus station.  I caught a bus from there that I thought, from what my guidebook said, would take me at least half the way or more toward the area of my hotel.  Unfortunately, it only took me about 1/4 of the way before we came to the end of the line.  I started walking following my map.  I watched the bus stops, but there was no way for me to tell which bus number would go my way.  So I just kept walking.  Finally, at noon, after walking almost 6 km (3.5 miles), I got to the hotel.    I found my hotel only by its look.  The website for it was all in Chinese.  It is a business hotel that had been recommended to me by one of my Internet consultants I had contacted.  The first place I had chosen, he told me, was too far from the beaches and the nicer parts of town.  Knowing it would be difficult to find, I drew a sketch of the photo of the exterior to help me find it.  Otherwise, all I knew was that it was about 200 m (200 yards) from the Crowne Plaza Hotel which was shown on my map.  I got to the Crowne Plaza and walked around the neighborhood looking until I finally identified the building.  Fortunately, a businessman who spoke English well was checking out when I arrived.  He helped make sure I got the kind of room I wanted and that they understood that I needed the room for 3 nights.    I was so tired that I went to bed immediately and napped.  When I got up, I cleaned up and went out.  I met a young man from Shanghai who works for Hyatt Hotels, was here on vacation, and spoke English well.  After visiting for a while, he asked if I wanted to go to Beer Street to eat dinner.  It was his last night here, and he had not yet been.  And Beer Street is one of the major attractions here which is the home of Tsingtao beer.  The street is a very lively neighborhood lined with outdoor restaurants.  I agreed, and we took a taxi there.   Chinese tend to have feasts when they eat out.  I'm always amazed to see a single person sitting at a table with 3-4 dishes on his table that he is eating from.  Well, our dinner was similar.  Wesley just kept ordering and ordering.  We had bamboo clams, squid kebabs, chicken kebabs, barbecued fish, roased lamb and whole garlic cloves with cumin and seeds, scrambled "fresh collected" eggs, boiled peanuts with red onion and celery in a sauce, cucumber chunks with tiny dried shrimp in a sauce, and a spinach-like vegetable with garlic.  We drank a Tsingtao beer with the meal.  It was all tasty and good, but he got carried away with the ordering.  Fortunately, here in China you can take your leftover food home, and Wesley took more than half of what he ordered back to his room.   There was a street market in the neighborhood.  We walked off our full bellies by exploring it.  I lucked out.  I needed an adaptor for the electrical plug on my computer for use once I leave China.  One of the guys had various hardware/electrical items, and I found an adaptor with two flat prongs on the other side.  I can use it both in the U.S. and in other countries when I further adapt it with the set of plug adaptors I normally carry with me.  It cost only 50 cents!   Monday, June 21, 2010--Qingdao   They are remodeling the lobby of my hotel.  Fortunately, the workers do not show up before 8:00, but at that time, the hammering and banging began.  It continued throughout today until 19:00, so the workers have an 11-hour work day!   The "Q" when used as a western letter for the Chinese language is pronounced somewhat like "Tch."  Therefore, Qingdao is pronounced approximately "Tching-dow."  It is a booming city, and I am located in the newest, nicest part.  It is full of tall, modern skyscrapers and reminds me a bit of the Pudong area of Shanghai.  It is clean and modern, and each skyscraper is designed to be attention-grabbing, often with an elaborate top.   In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Qingdao was the site for all the sailing events.  The Olympic Sailing Center is just 3 blocks from my hotel.  I walked there this morning and explored.  It is an impressive complex ringed by all the skyscrapers of the area.  There is a sad aspect to it, though.  The map in my guidebook, which was published before the Olympics, shows a park in the area.  And there is still a small part of natural area to one side of the sailing center.  It's beautiful with red stones, hills and green trees.  The whole area must have been gorgeous before it was rebult as the sailing center.   I decided to splurge on calories today.  I was at a mall near the sailing center and noticed a huge crowd at McDonald's.  I had seen a sign showing a burger, drink and fries for 15 yuan (about $2.50 U.S.).  I thought I would enjoy having western food for the first time since May 6, so I ordered the special expecting it to be small versions of everything.  Well, it was a full Big Mac, a large drink, and a large fries for that price.  I blew the diet for the day.  But, even though I don't generally like McDonald's burgers, it sure was a nice change of taste!   It was a sunny, nice day.  I continued walking along the waterfront back toward the downtown area.  Many people were out doing the same.  There were small pocket parks along the route, and I stopped twice to relax in the shade and read for a while.  Eventually, I decided it was time to reverse my route and return to the hotel area.   Near my hotel is a large store called Justco.  I stopped there to buy some supplies for the room--noodles, peanut brittle, yogurt, and diet cola.  Then I returned to the room and the continuing noise of the reconstruction.  I stayed inside for the rest of the night catching on up on things.