Welcome to Quingdao- Have a Beer

So, I've arrived in China at the port city of Qingdao. Qingdao is famous for its beer, which I believe is exported under the name of Tsingtao. The fact that it has beaches and a brewery means that it is considered by Chinese as a beautiful party city. Instilled is a better word. I've noticed in my week here a surprising similarity in answers to some of my questions. It's not just that many people seem to have the same opinion, their exact phrasing is about verbatim. It's as if they have been programmed to memorize it from a book. Hmmmm

The beer's ok, I prefer the Japanese variety. Then again, it, like much of China, can be very cheap. The other night, I went out with seven of my closest friends to a nearby bar. For two hours, the beer was flowing pitcher after pitcher. The total bill was seventy yuan. For those of you keeping track at home, it was less than $1.50 per person. Qingdao is also known as the perfect place to take a wedding photo. Walking along the boardwalk you see huge groups preening and posing for cameras, all wearing ill fitting cream-colored getups. The coast really isn't that beautiful. I don't see what all the fuss is about. It must have something to do with the group think mentioned above. More interesting is seeing the faces and characters all dolled up in cream. I remember one particular guy. He looked about 18, had no place marrying the girl next to him. He was a complete slob (I could tell this by watching his consumption of squid on a stick) and to top it off he was wearing sneakers with the playboy emblem. Really?

Qingdao (Like I'm sure much of China) is a tale of two cities (maybe more). I stayed in the dingy old city. Where there's crap on the street, people spitting everywhere and of course ever present honking on the narrow confusing street. Then I walked north, past a couple of beaches and boom this supremely modern city. Huge impressive buildings, a gigantic promenade, large clear street. I wonder if anything was here ten years ago or if they just knocked everything down.

It is currently the golden travel week in China on behalf of the country's 60th anniversary and the mid-autumn festival. It seems the whole country is traveling, the government estimates 200 million people moving about the country the next week. One thing that I've learned about China is that travel takes about twice as long as expected. If I think it will take one hour to travel, I should expect at least twice that.