Qingdao Travels Continued 在青岛旅游 第二部

Yushan pagoda 小鱼山

Yushan Pagoda was built in 1984

Once again, thanks to our Beijing classmates, Danni and Beijia, for giving me the impetus to finally tour the city I've been living in these past nine months. From the station we made the usual trip down to the pier, then on to Daxue lu, stopping for some freshly made baozi on the way. Daxue lu is as pretty in the spring as it is in the autumn. We made the most of the newly verdant plane trees by going to Coffee Space, a kitsch little coffee shop with a glass roof and excellent cheesecake.

Afterwards we wandered into the Yushan campus of Ocean University. I have to say, I am thoroughly jealous. It's a much more aesthetically pleasing affair than our Fushan campus, with older and less square architecture and aged twisting trees. Above it all floated the Yushan pagoda.

To get to Yushan pagoda, you need to walk out of the university campus and up a few residential streets. In true Chinese tourism style, access to the pagoda isn't free; a normal ticket costs 10RMB, students/elderly 5RMB. I would say the pagoda, and especially its view, is definitely worth the fee. Even though the structure doesn't lay claim to as much history as the incongruous hieroglyphs that decorate the walls would like to suggest, it is still a beautifully made building. From its top floor, there is a wonderful 360' view of Qingdao, looking South to the sea, East to Zhongshan park, surrounded by the wide roofs and broad trees of badaguan. A great place to take tourists to get their bearings.

Gift Street, Creative 100 礼品街 创意100产业园

I am so so sad I have only just discovered this place! Situated at 100 Nanjing Lu, Creative 100 is the home of Qingdao's blossoming culture scene. It has a pottery shop, an arts and crafts shop, tea shops, an anime merchandise shop, fancy dress shops, artists studios, home decor shops, Horcrux (the Harry Potter themed coffee shop) and a book-come-coffee-come-trinket shop. I finally managed to find some non-tacky Qingdao memorabilia in Sono Cafe (I think that's the name, I'll go back and check) for a very reasonable price.

This area fills me with so much enthusiasm for Qingdao, yet it was really disappointing to see a number of vacant shop fronts. I would love to see creative 100 bustling with as many people as it has creative energy. Qingdao's art scene is quite notably lacking, I hope Creative 100 will become the first stepping stone in path to innovation and originality that would give the city a beating heart in the art world.

On a side note, Creative 100 is also home to Redstar magazine, where I am currently interning! Check out my articles on the May Fourth Movement and Korean War films here. Get ready for June's issue too! Plug plug plug.

Firewood Court 劈柴院

I read a five-star review on tripadvisor saying Firewood Court (pichai yuan) was 'like stepping back in time'. I'm sorry, what? Maybe I got my hopes up by reading that review, but Firewood Court was more like stepping into a badly made film set. So apparently the original court was built at the end of the 19th century. Today's Firewood Court was restored in 2007, when they say 'restored' I assume they mean it tongue in cheek. The shops have wallpaper with a brick pattern in order to give some semblance of an 'antique' feeling. As for what the shops sell, there's nothing traditional about it. One was selling posters of Paris and London. You might as well go to Taidong because they won't charge as much. 

Everything else was a copy of each other, most food stalls were peddling various kinds of seafood on sticks. I bought a kind of snack that I was assured was just seafood, I ate it to find out it was pork. Clearly the shopkeepers have no qualms with lying to your face about the content. I doubt they have any hesitation lying about the freshness or quality either. Furthermore, the shopkeepers openly insult passing foreigners in Chinese. Firewood court is a horrible, hackneyed place that passes for tourism. Its narrowness, perhaps the one feature giving it authenticity, just works to the benefit of the shopkeepers as you run the gauntlet down the alley, ambushed on both sides by barking peddlars.  

The museum was shut. The "tea house" on the first floor of the museum was appalling, the centre pieces were a couple of fake concrete trees adorned with plastic leaves, characteristic of the whole artificial nature of Firewood Court. If you want to see a real restored street, visit Bopilao Old Street in Taipei, a great example of how original features can be preserved, and enhanced by modernity. I hope I'm not being too obvious when I say, I wouldn't go near Firewood Court with a ten-foot bamboo pole.  If you want to find Qingdao street food, there are many other cheaper and better quality places to buy it from. 

'Til next time folks!

Spring in Bloom 盛开的鲜花

It is said that the most beautiful aspect of cherry blossom is its ephemerality. Seeing as there is such a small window of time to enjoy the flowers before they fall, Qingdao's Zhongshan Park draws in tens of thousands in one week in April. With that in mind, on the 17th of April I rushed to Zhongshan Park to see the blossoms for myself.

Outside of Japan, Qingdao can boast the largest concentration of cherry blossom trees, some 20,000. They were planted by the Japanese during their occupation from 1915 to 1922, and the trees have remained as perhaps the only welcome feature from that period. 

Capturing the moment

Zhongshan park has many other flower gardens apart from just Cherry blossoms

A view along Sakura Road

A bride and groom between wedding photos

Thousands of people took advantage of the spring bloom to visit Zhongshan park

Of course, where there are people, there is business opportunity. This was no ordinary walk in the park. Hundreds of stall holders had set up stands, peddling everything from portraits to bunny ears. Despite being in a park, don't breath in through your nose, because it won't be the scent of cherry blossoms that greets you. Stinky tofu is a hugely popular snack, and its unpleasant odour pervades the entire park. If that wasn't enough to disrupt your meditative stroll through the spring flowers, add the sound of thumping technopop, pounding away into your very soul.

Perhaps try visiting very early in the morning to avoid the crowds and music, because the scenery is stunning.


So, here's a really badly filmed video about spring blossoms. Cannot believe this is a song about how beautiful flowers are and they've filled the video with CGI. What.

Beer's Virtue Benefit Liver 啤酒有益于肝脏 ?

Now, I'm no expert on alcohol, and luckily I wasn't relying on the Qingdao drinks industry to illuminate the depths of my ignorance. Especially after seeing 'beer's virtue benefits liver' on a sign in the Qingdao beer museum, I think I should probably disregard most information picked up on my travels. 

The first stop on my alcohol adventure was Chateau Huadong-Parry (华东百利酒庄), which the ticket boldly claims is 'China's no.1 European style wine chateau', founded in 1985 by Michael Parry. Commenting on the scenery in Winter would be a tad unfair, as the grapevines were bare it made for rather bleak viewing, but I can imagine in Summer the nearby hills would be covered in row upon row of endless green. But I can comment on the "chateau" itself. 

*Disclaimer: Huadong-Parry Chateau does not come with real sparkles.

Upon entering the chateau, there is a compulsory video watching session, 10 minutes of pure Chinese gold. Complete with its own tacky American voice-over and CGI Disney style story book structure, the video aims to introduce the history and integrity of the Huadong-Parry brand, taking on the mantle of European wine traditions, winning glory for China, etc, etc. The video is saturated with the gaudy, tasteless interior design that Chinese people associate with European grandeur. Unfortunately, you leave the video room and find the chateau was the setting for the filming, except probably quite a few years ago, as the garish grape covered wallpaper is already stained and peeling. 

The wine tasting room was another decorating debacle, as well as being unwelcomingly cold. Fair enough, they probably weren't expecting guests and so hadn't bothered with the heating. One commendable feature of this room were the large glass windows, that let you look out towards the swans swimming in the pond, or the out-of-place grecian statues, or perhaps the dominating bust of Michael Parry himself. 

For the Y50 ticket, I got to have a go at wine tasting. Yes, I sat there with a wine glass in my hand, swirling and sniffing a 2007 red like I actually had a clue about wines. Obviously, I didn't really have much opinion on this part. I can only relay the well-informed views of Will's father, who said they lacked distinction but would be perfectly acceptable as house wines, and definitely shouldn't cost over £15 a bottle. Which is quite amusing when considering the introductory video, which made it sound like none other than Jesus had created this wine, nay, miracle. 

We also got a tour of the wine cellar's collection of impressive oak barrels, and some other things too, I forget. Of course, the final stop was the wine shop. The only thing that seemed to affect the price of the wine was the decoration of the bottle and case. The more showy and ornate, the more you pay. You can visualise a Chinese businessman slowly presenting the beautiful case, delicately opening it, then withdrawing the prized embellished bottle from inside, to the oohs and aahs of all around the table. It's all an exercise to flaunt your wealth. The most expensive bottle we saw was over Y5000, a price that could buy you wine from some of Europe's best Chateaus. According to one of our teachers, most Chinese don't even like the taste of wine, and will add lemonade to la Fete. Well, I'd have to agree with them on that point, although I'd probably pass up a good wine for an orange juice so that it wouldn't be wasted on me.  

What kind of blog post about Qingdao's drinks industry would this be if I failed to mention the legend that is Tsingtao Beer. Internationally, Tsingtao is Qingdao's claim to fame, and it is affectionally known by the locals as Qingpi (as shortened form of 青岛啤酒 Qingdao Pijiu). So, a trip to the Qingdao Beer museum was in order. 

Today, Tsingtao beer production takes place in Laoshan, and in various sites all over China. Tsingtaos's original 1903 factory has been converted into what is now the Tsingtao Beer Museum. Despite its age, the museum site is still very large, as it was expanded with each new generation. Because Tsingtao is such a prominent brand in China and abroad, it attracts large groups of domestic tourists. Be warned. 

Thematic water feature - 干杯!

Apparently beer comes from outer space, from which it was bequeathed to Qingdao in China's Shandong province.   

There was a very interesting collection of advertising posters, which traced the history and ownership of the brewery, with some posters even featuring swastikas while the company had German ties in the 1930s. The above was my particular favourite. 
  

Something I think my father will be interested in.

All in all, the Museum provides information on much more than just Tsingtao beer with a huge range of exhibits, and opportunities to drink the beer itself. A highlight was the 'drunk simulator', where an entire room is set on a tilt, so you end up unable to stand and clinging to the wall in disorientation. Naturally, theres a camera, so those outside can watch you struggle to walk across the room in a straight line. Hilarious. 

Laoshan's Mountain Water 去崂山游山玩水

If the title of this post baffles you or you are worried about the degeneration of my English skills, fear not. 'Mountain water' is in fact a literal translation of the ever economical Chinese word for landscape, 山水 (pronounced 'shanshui'). Hence, landscape paintings are called 山水画, drawing of mountain and water. I also used a Chinese idiom, 游山玩水, which means to go on a scenic tour, and literally means 'to roam the mountains and play in the waters'. Not that I played in the water, as it was -2'C. Even so, it was a beautiful clear day, and we got to see some fantastic views. The landscape invokes images of traditional Chinese watercolour painting, and it's not hard to see where the old artists got their inspiration from. 

The scenic area of Laoshan is just under one hour East of downtown Qingdao, and is China's tallest coastal mountain, at 1,132.7m. We were stopped from entering in our taxi, and had to buy tickets to then continue on in a minibus. The tickets weren't cheap either, ¥100 for a senior and ¥70 for a student. Laoshan is huge, being the major mountain range of the province, so I don't understand how they managed to seal off all roads to tourists and force them to take minibuses. 

As for tourism on the mountain itself, Laoshan boasts terraces, temples, a cable car, and the Laoshan springs. Our aim was to catch a leisurely ride on the cable car to glide over the tree tops. However, the wind was too strong so the cable car was forced to shut. We also managed to get a little lost, as none of the maps actually pinpoint their location, although through guesswork we muddled along just fine. We also caught a dodgy people carrier with a loose door back to the first carpark because we couldn't find the minibus drop-off point. 

  

Now I guess I'll leave you with a few mountain based chengyu;

青山绿水 (qing shan lü shui) green hills and clean waters.

湖光山色 (hu guang shan se) beautiful lake and mountain landscape.

依山傍水 (yi shan pang shui) mountains on one side, water on the other.

背山临水 (bei shan lin shui) with one's back to the mountain, facing the water. This is a very important principle in Chinese culture, and houses built in these locations will fetch much higher prices. I believe it's to do with the energy flow between them, and not just the nice scenery. 

Qingdao Travels 在青岛旅游

Last month in November, we were visited by some friends from Beijing. The great thing about showing people around somewhere you are already familiar with is that through their eyes you get to see it for the first time again, and whole discover new aspects that you'd completely overlooked. We we also lucky to catch the last throes of Autumn, enjoying a long weekend of crisp blue skies and pleasant temperatures.

Qingdao Train Station

A day of glorious sunshine and healthy air quality. Will and I were mobbed outside the station by a gang of map sellers while waiting for our friends to arrive. When it became apparent that we were not going to buy maps, they hung around anyway to ask Will his height and if he was a basketball player. Except all questions were directed to me and I became a spokesperson of sorts. Ah well, practice is practice.

Now these photographs might leave you feeling confused; I thought Holly was in China and it is Winter there? Correct and correct. Although the pictures may look warm and Australia-esque, it was still under 10'C. But ain't nothing gonna stop a man with determination and a pair of speedoes. Even in mid-November, men in just shorts saw fit to play a game of beach volleyball. Rather them than me.  

Discerning readers may recognise the pagoda at the end of the pier, and if you did, well done, because it looks like every other pagoda in China to me. Except that it's on the end of a pier. It is, in fact, the small pagoda icon that appears on every bottle of Tsingtao beer. Despite being a popular tourist attraction, it was thankfully lacking the herds of tourists complete with flag-waving megaphone-blaring tour guides. As it happens, our Beijing friends managed to escape from the Beijing hubbub and unwind listening to the sound of the waves lapping against the base of the pier.

Subverting the State? Me? Never. 

Next stop on our quick tour of Qingdao's old town was the Naval Museum. The map was extremely useful, revealing that currently over 80% of the site is under construction. The museum of artefacts was more an exhibition of mildew and rising damp, but that didn't stop intrepid explorers like us, oh no. Because outside was a collection of tanks, planes, fighter jets, a submarine, two warships and piles of unexploded missiles that I was reluctant to approach. To reach the warships, you had to cross over a rickety bridge of wooden planks that gave slightly underfoot, and through the gaps you could see the ocean swirling far below. It was like being in a Final Destination instalment. The ship itself was... shippy. When I learn know something intelligent about ships/naval warfare/the Chinese navy, I'll let you know. But for now that's the best description you're going to get. At least I know I won't be pursuing a job with the Royal Navy.

How do you relax after all this sea-based excitement? Head to Daxue lu (University Road), perhaps the most chilled street in Qingdao. Both sides of the road are lined with mature plane trees, and colonial architecture sits beside traditional Chinese buildings. My favourite feature has to be the charming coffee shops. One has to be entered through a tunnel of bamboo, and inside is decorated like a beach hut, with a pair of cats cuddling up to customers. Another boats a glass roof, which allows you to fully enjoy the towering plane trees that filter in dappled light onto the shop floor. The coffee is pretty good too.

Ice Mocha-licious