During the German occupation of Qingdao, they founded the TsingTao brewery in the early 1900's, and introduced the wonders of beer to China. It's clear that the Chinese haven't looked back since, and TsingTao (pronounced CHINGDAO, for all you cats at home) still remains the flagship beer here in the People's Republic.
Before we left for Qingdao, our Chinese coworkers told us that Qingdao would be similar in many ways to Dalian. It was on the beach, and it was of a size similar to our own.
Well, they got their two reasons correct, but Qingdao was really nothing at all like Dalian. It was a warm (feelings, not climate) and friendly place, with unique architecture, and a welcoming vibe that is sometimes missing from Dalian.
Our Hostel was in an old converted church in the heart of Qingdao's old city - which at many times made me forget I was in China (besides the ever-present sounds of hacking up spit left and right.)
The first sight we hit up was the German Guesthouse, a former residence of German bureaucrats that even housed Chairman Mao for a while. His bed was on display as well, seemingly untouched and uncleaned since the time he stayed there.
From there, we meandered around the area, winding up in a rickety revolving observatory where we got some pretty good views of the city.
We walked down to the waterfront (which unlike Dalian is covered in beautiful sandy beaches), and even got to witness a nutjob going for a swim (something that is actually fairly common in the winter months over here).
Then it was time for the brewery! We headed to the Qingdao brewery and found ourselves on the epic "Beer Street" where everything was decorated to match the theme.
The brewery tour itself was interesting enough, although it did house some very... twisted... artifacts from the German era. Very, very twisted, especially if you're reading inbetween the lines. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.
The highlight by far was a hilarious "Tipsy Room" that made you feel instantly drunk when you walked in.
We enjoyed some free (as in not free, but included in admission) tiny cups of TsingTao and went on our merry way.
The next day, we visited the Catholic Church (once named St. Michael's, now just "The Catholic Church), which was surprisingly large and apparently still in use. There is a very strange Catholic Chinese community here in China. A few of the Chinese Teachers at our school are Catholic, but when asked they seem to know little to nothing about their chosen religion. Strange, but nothing a giant church shouldn't fix.
We spent the rest of our last day wandering around Qingdao, winding up by the beach front again.
While walking along the water, we were treated to a scene straight out of Miami beach. A bunch of men in speedos playing Volleyball. The only difference was that it was freezing cold, and on the other side of the world from Miami.
On our way back to the hostel, we strolled through a market and of course got to enjoy watching people cook (or maybe just straight up eat) live scorpions. Mmmmm. Good to know the German influences don't run TOO deep here.
'til next time, I'll be drinking a TsingTao or three for all of you out there,
Shawn
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