As I write this I sit here in oh-so-warm Nanjing (10 degrees!!), surrounded by the boom and crackle of box after box of fireworks. Tonight is Chinese New Years Eve, and as I am the proud owner of 3 different types of fireworks myself I felt obliged to quickly upload some photos of Qingdao (and also because my lovely German friend Jas told me to) in case this is the last blog entry I ever do. Bought from one of the many street stalls, with instructions in Chinese and incredibly cheap (I am hoping it is from cheap production costs and not dodgy quality), I am very excited about joining the throngs of Chinese filling the air with incessant noise, smoke and pretty colours.
I don't have much to say about Qingdao; we had a week of relaxing, eating, hiking and pretending the weather was warm enough for much beach wandering. We ran into the combined obstacle of the Spring Festival holiday and tourist off-season, making sight-seeing an adventure- we hiked along a windy mountain road for 2 hours, had several security guards panicking when we headed off into the mountains, had another security guard call a friend to ask, "I have 2 foreigners here... where are they going??!!", and struggled to find anywhere to eat as one-by-one the restaurants shut down.
I have to go and lose a limb or two to fireworks, stuff my belly with a New Years Feast with everyone at our hostel, and then head into the city for the midnight countdown and more fireworks, but I hope the next few photos show a bit of Qingdao.
If this is my last post, much love and no, Maggie, you are not having my stuff.
I don't have much to say about Qingdao; we had a week of relaxing, eating, hiking and pretending the weather was warm enough for much beach wandering. We ran into the combined obstacle of the Spring Festival holiday and tourist off-season, making sight-seeing an adventure- we hiked along a windy mountain road for 2 hours, had several security guards panicking when we headed off into the mountains, had another security guard call a friend to ask, "I have 2 foreigners here... where are they going??!!", and struggled to find anywhere to eat as one-by-one the restaurants shut down.
I have to go and lose a limb or two to fireworks, stuff my belly with a New Years Feast with everyone at our hostel, and then head into the city for the midnight countdown and more fireworks, but I hope the next few photos show a bit of Qingdao.
If this is my last post, much love and no, Maggie, you are not having my stuff.
