September 18 & 19 (Saturday and Sunday) – Qingdao (青岛)

Day 1: Zhan Qiao (Chinese 栈桥, loading pier), Firewood Court (劈柴院), Qingdao German Governor's House Museum (德國前總督府 .迎賓館), Tsingtao Brewery Museum (青岛啤酒博物馆) & Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center (青島奧林匹克帆船中心)

My daughter just came back at midnight after a week in London and Paris. After barely three hours’ sleep she flew with us to Qingdao. While it’s cold and wet in Beijing the weather in Qingdao was much better, breezy and fair sky. Upon arrival it took about 40 minutes to get us from the airport to the InterContinental Qingdao (35km). After checking in we started our tour of the city. We took a taxi to Zhan Qiao pier (Chinese 栈桥, loading pier) which is at the southern shore of Qingdao off Zhongshan Road. This now 440 meter (1,443.6 ft.) long strip stretches into the sea and was the first wharf at Qingdao. An octagonal pavilion called the Billowing Back and Forth Tower (huilan ge), loosely translated, stands at the end of the pier and was constructed in 1930. The pier itself was started in 1891 and frequently enlarged. Zhan Qiao Pier is viewed in the eyes of many as the official symbol of Qingdao as it was made famous by being placed on the label of the Tsingtao Brewery beer bottles and the front of cans. We didn’t stay there long and went instead to the Firewood Court (劈柴院) for sightseeing and lunch. On our way we passed by the St Michale’s Cathedral (聖米迦勒大教堂) and I did take a snapshot. At the Firewood Court one can find quite a few of local snacks including seafood (starfish, crab, shrimp, fish etc.), dumplings and exotic ones such as worms, scorpion, insect etc. We went for dumplings and ordered three different types. The dumplings are hot, tasty and juicy (RMB5 for five). And we followed the instructions on the wall: punched a hole in the dumpling first, then sucked and tasted the hot soup base slowly and then consumed the rest. Its good value and the place relatively clean so it’s recommended. Then we took a taxi to the Qingdao German Governor's House Museum (德國前總督府 .迎賓館) Built in 1903 at a cost of 2.5 million tears of silver and used by Mao Zedong in 1958. The Governor’s Mansion has thirty rooms each with individual unique fireplaces and distinct style. The Guest House is now a museum and hotel hosting different art exhibitions annually. It was one of a few buildings not damaged during cultural revolution.
Afterwards we went to the Tsingtao Brewery Museum (青岛啤酒博物馆) by taxi. It is located East of ChuShuiShan Children's Park and south of Taidong on Qingdao Beer Street, and is China's oldest brewery (1903) and a favourite tourist destination. Besides observing the oldest working Tsingtao Brewery in action one got the chance to taste fresh brew straight from the production line.
By the time we finished the tour it was about 16:30 and since the taxi drivers normally change their shift that hour it took us a long while to find one to take us back to the hotel. After a drink (for me Margarita) at the lobby bar my wife and daughter returned to our room for rest. And I sauntered to the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center (青島奧林匹克帆船中心 - Sailing Competition in the Olympic Games in 2008) to take some sunset photos. Then we’d dinner @ the Haidao Yucun (海岛渔村). At this restaurant one has to get a table first and then go to the seafood tanks area with their table # for food selection. We ordered one live sea yellow croaker? (海黃魚), two frozen ocean big shrimps (對蝦), seven razor clams (蟶子) plus one catty of small clam (蜆) for chilli stirred fried. The fish and both types of clams are all tasty but the shrimps are not tender enough. The service of the restaurant is somewhat substandard. For example the waitress forgot our order for the rice and when she brought it to us only long after our foods were gone. After dinner we bought some small pearl green grapes (珍珠提子) at a fruit stall in the area before heading back to the hotel.


Camera Equipment:
Camera: Nikon D3 & F6 plus Panasonic LX3
Lens: AFS 17-35/f2.8 (mostly on F6) and AFS 70-200/f2.8 (D3)
Singh-Ray Filters: i) Gold N Blue Polarizer, ii) LB Color Combo Polarizer, iii) Daryl Benson ND-3 Reverse Graduate and iv) Galen Rowell ND-3G Hard Step.
Film (for F6): 8 rolls of Kodak Ektar and 1 roll of Fujicolor – all 100 ISO

NB: Photos without metadata were taken by Nikon F6, the film camera