Qingdao is basically the Milwaukee of China. This is where all the Tsingtao beer comes from. It’s pretty good stuff. Qingdao was an old German town and it shows. There’s a lot of European style buildings and the streets just go all over the place with no real order. And, the beer comes from here. Pretty German if you ask me.
Here’s a podcast of Andres and I wandering the streets:
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Qingdao is on the coast of the Yellow sea.
Our hostel is in an old observatory. Apparently, it’s the first one in China. It looks like it would be great in the summer. On the roof there’s a bar and big patio next to the observatory things.
Or first night for dinner we just ate on the street. On one corner, there were a few tents set up. I looked into one and saw a few women sitting around a low table. In the center of the table was a bubbling cauldron of juices. Sticking out of the pot were a bunch of sticks all holding different foods. Meat, fish, lettuce, mushrooms, liver of some sort, tofu… everything. Each stick cost 0.5 RMB so we sat down and started chomping away. Everything was delicious. We each got a plate (covered in plastic) with some peanut sauce and hot sauce. We poked around in the soup and pulled out whatever looked good. The sauces were really good and the tofu was excellent.
Today we went to go checkout the Tsingtao Beer factory. Unfortunately, it was closed. But we still found a place to sell us a pitcher. The Chinese New year is tomorrow so everything is shut down. Speaking of the new year, we bought a bunch of fireworks today to celebrate. Some of you know my firework endeavors in the States, but the stuff here is nothing like it. I’m in China! The birthplace of fireworks! One of the hostel workers drove us to a firework stand and we just loaded up. The only way we could describe what we wanted was by making hand motions and noises of what they do. There’s whistle up into the air and explode, then explode-explode on the ground. We bought both kinds.
All day long bombs have been going off in the city, I mean fireworks. You think you’ve heard some loud stuff in the States? Well these fireworks echo through the entire city. And the Chinese of all ages just love them. It’s not like just setting off one or two firecrackers, more like several hundred in one strip just for fun. And the sun has only just set on New Year’s Eve.
Tonight we will learn how to make dumplings original Chinese style at the hostel. Should be fun. (photos)
