Weekend by the Beach

Here in China, where grey brick and cement cities abound, I almost forgot how much I loved beaches. When I looked through my guidebook for places to visit in China, Qingdao paled in comparison to places like the mystical Huangshan, the historical Xian, and exotic Silk Road oases of Xinjiang. Yet I surprisingly enjoyed myself immensely in Qingdao this past weekend. Of course, it's not as beautiful as the beaches in Portugal and Spain, but it's as close to a European seaside town as one will get in Northern China.

Because it was under German occupation during the latter part of the 19th century, the city retains a lot of European architecture. Throughout the city, there are colorful German-style mansions and villas, tree-lined cobblestone streets, and red-tile roofs. It almost makes you forget that you are in China. When I arrived at the Qingdao train station at 12:30pm, the first thing that came to mind was: Spanish beach town, Malaga. The sun was shining brightly (not the muted, haze-filtered light of Tianjin, but real yellow sunshine) and the sky was deep blue. Then, when the taxi driver drove me through the windy, hilly streets, I was reminded of the old Alfama quarters in Lisbon. There's a relaxed and sophisticated feel to the city, remnants of its international past.


Another attraction to the city is the abundance of parks and trees. The old German Concession villa quarters, called BaDaGuan, remains shady and cool throughout the day because of the abundance of foliage. There's a ZhongShan Park in memory of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, and it's incredibly romantic to stroll there at sunset (esp. with a significant other). During the spring, the cherry blossoms, magnolias, peonies, and wisteria bloom, so I can only imagine how much more romantic it'll be. Since ZhongShan Park is free and open to the public, plenty of locals were having family picnics, playing evening badminton, and obviously enjoying themselves. I thought of Central Park in New York, and how important a large public green space is beneficial to the health of urban dwellers. I wish Tianjin had a large public park for its citizens. When will Chinese urban planners realize that cement plazas and treeless streets make peoples' lives hotter and more uncomfortable? Beijing is particularly bad, with long, long stretches of sun-baked, unshaded city blocks.

In addition to the Zhongshan Park, Qingdao also has a LuXun Park in memory of the 20th century Chinese novelist (author of The Story of Ah Q). It's another idyllic setting. The Luxun Memorial Pathway is bordered on one side with marble walls etched with the author's poems and pine-shaded, spectacular views of the rocky sea cliffs below.

An Unexpected Boon
I found out upon arrival that my hotel, which the director at the place I volunteer at had booked online for me, was pretty far away from the beach and touristy sights. It was a great hotel and all, one of many Home Inn chains in China, and the cleanest hotel room I've stayed at since I got to China. But the location was too far from the attractions. At first I was bummed out, but with persistent asking, the folks at the front desk told me various bus routes and places I could go around the hotel. I ended up at the TaiDong pedestrian shopping street. My new friend Wu Lin was from Qingdao and she'd told me about TaiDong and the night market there, so I just went with the flow and strolled through TaiDong for the rest of the day. It was a little like Tianjin's Binjiang Dao, but much smaller and cheaper. Plus there are two cool-looking buildings with murals painted on them.

The night life around TaiDong Street is really fun. There are tons of food vendors selling huge BBQ squid for 10 kwai each, BBQ tofu for 1 kwai each, stinky tofu, Bing Tang Hu Lou candies, and Chinese-style hamburgers "hanbao." The clothing and accessories stalls are packed together with a single fluorescent light bulb casually roped over a balanced horizontal bar. They sell everything from socks, jeans, shoes, purses, underwear, and pajamas to necklaces and scarves. The prices here are pretty reasonable and when you bargain, they only go down a little or not at all, showing that they don't do the price inflation like in Beijing's Silk Street. When I got back to TJ, I found that prices for things like tights, necklaces, and shirts I'd bought in Qingdao were about half of that of TJ prices. Yes, the farther south you go, the cheaper clothing gets. I don't think I would have visited or spent as much time in the TaiDong Shopping area if it hadn't been for the location of the Home Inn, which forced me to go there first. So in the end, it was a pleasant turn of events.

The other pleasant turn of events in Qingdao was the boat-tour-turned-bus-tour that ended up taking me to this red onion-shaped rotating viewing tower that I would have never known about on my own. Although the boat tour was just supposed to be a 30 minute ride and they slyly neglected to mention the mandatory bus tour of Qingdao afterward, I was glad they forced us to see places that I would never have gone to on my own. The "red onion" tower was amazing. Situated on a hillside, it offered spectacular 360 degree views of Qingdao from above, and the floor of the observation deck slowly rotated, just like Equinox in San Francisco. I'm learning that, in China, sometimes you get pleasantly surprised by going with the crazy flow of things. Don't get upset or frustrated, just take it in stride and let it be. Although, maybe that's also why the bad practices don't change; people passively accept it without protest.


Resting area for visitors near the end of the LuXun Poetry Walkway. It's a great place for a family picnic and terrific sea views.