Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

I spent a wonderful day wondering Qingdao’s beautiful little cobble stone streets today.

It did start a little strangely and I wasted a bit of time as I forgot my map and after leaving St Michael’s Church I wondered here and there and stopped for some food and a drink and it was then I realised I had no map and was far from anywhere anyone would want a map so I continued to wonder in the direction I thought the water was in until I found a Chinese tourist crouched over his tourist map and together we realised we were both heading in the wrong direction that we thought we were going.

Oh the hassles of ancient towns with maze like streets and hills!

I was soon back on track and spent the entire day wondering from place to place beneath the most amazing blue sky. I decided to keep away from the foreshore today and stay in the peace and quiet of the back streets. All the sites I say today were beautiful and well worth visiting, I won’t go on about them here as I’ve written about them below.

I have planned to stay here another two nights and then head off inland where it is much less crowded and not as expensive. I have enjoyed my Shandong Adventure but will be glad to leave and pay normal prices for water and food. For breakfast this morning I had Muslim egg and tomato with a small bowl of rice which is usually around 4 Yuan, oh no, this is Shandong they told me and the price here is 10 Yuan. I gave them 5 Yuan and left with them yelling after me. If it was the large bowl it would be worth around 8 Yuan but I asked for the small but it is still egg and tomato and it still costs the same.

Sorry bud, I don’t think so!

All hotel prices will almost double come Saturday but as I want to visit Laoshan so I have agreed (with myself) to pay one night at their stupid rate and then leave the following evening on the night train to Anhui. Qingdao really is such a wonderful city to visit and just like in Yantai and Weihai and anywhere else along the coast, the sea food is so fresh. I still haven’t found where to buy beer by the plastic bag full but I will do my best to hand over a few Yuan for one. I’ve decided not to visit the brewery as I really don’t care how beer is made, I just care if it’s warm or cold. I found an English map and there is a beer street I can visit but I think I’ll pass on that as well and opt for a temple or a shady mountain or two.

So here is my second day here in wonderful Qingdao City!

St Michaels Catholic Church (Tianzhu Jiaotang)

Found just off Zhongshan Lu is the gicantic St Michael’s Catholic Cathedral which was designed by the German architect Arthur Bialucha following Gothic and Roman styles. Its construction began in 1932 and it was finished in 1934 and its design takes the form of a cross. There is a balcony at thirty meters and the front is accompanied by two tall tymmetrical bell towers on each side that house four large bronze bells. The church was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution but many locals hid the churches crosses in the near by hill therefore saving them for the future.

As usual, being a church it was closed when I arrived but the LP says that you have to actually pay to get inside the church. When I think about it, why not, you have to pay to enter most temples here in China, why not churches too.

Protestant Church (Jidu Jiaotant)

Found on a busy main road this church was designed by Curt Rothkegel and built in 1908 it looks like an old castle. It is composed of two parts being the actual Church and the Bell Tower. As it is the church that was used by the Germans the locals refer to it as the German Church. It wasn’t opened when I first arrived so I went to visit the observatory and found that was a Military Site so I headed back to the church and a small tour group were being shown in. One guys English was excellent and he had sucha great sense of humor and he gave me his sun glasses and tried to pass me off as Chinese. It must have worked as I wasn’t thrown out by the priest who was having a great time playing along with the game.

Qingdao Ying Binguan

Still costing 15Yuan to enter and found on leafy Longshan Lu is the former German governors residence which is a replica of a German Palace. Built in 1903, it is said to have cost 2,450,000 taels of silver to build. When Kaiser Wilhelm II got the bill, he immediately recalled the extravagant governor and sacked him. In 1957 Chairman Mao stayed here with his wife and his kids whilst on holiday and of course there are now signs telling which bedroom the Chairman stayed in. I spent an hour or more visiting the grounds and the house and even sat for a 'spot of tea’ with a friendly Chinese English Teacher from Hunan Province who was here with his family.   

TheQingdao Arts Museum

I found this place as I was walking down , I think Daxue Lu (Road) after visiting the Qingdao Ying Binguan. I actually thought it was a temple as it gives that impression both inside the walls and outside but when I got to the ticket office I found that it was actually the Arts Museum and it was well worth the wonderful hour or more that I spent there. It cost 15 Yuan to enter and it is divided into three separate halls but sadly only one of them is open at the moment. All the paintings you see in today’s photos were taken in the Roman Hall which is a three story hall and but the first two levels have show rooms open but what they offer are well worth the entry price.

The other two halls I believe will be dedicated to Buddhist art and Islamic art but both were closed due to either construction or renovations. So the temple photos you see in today’s photos are not actually of a temple, they are actually the beautiful Arts Museum.

Marine Life Museum, Aquarim and Underwater World

Water here and fish there, here a fish, there a fish, everywhere a fish fish!

Underwater World is very much as awesome as any other Underwater World around the world. They seem to be like McDonalds and no matter where they are they all offer the same things which include the huge whale skeleton in the first or second room. If you like jelly fish then the Aquarium is worth a visit. I love jelly fish so I was squirming with all the kids who were racing around me. As for the live show part of it, you don’t pay any extra but you do get to see a couple of seals and penguins swimming around.

Underwater World cost 90Yuan & the Aquarim costs 40 Yuan.
If you want to see both you can get one ticket that costs 120 Yuan.

Huiquan Square

Huge square full of underground stores and eateries. Here I can actually be found right at this very moment typing this entry. I have just sat with a young girl and her delicious mother and we spent an hour or so going through my photos of Australia. Out side in the food court someone must be strangling a cat as what ever it is surely can’t be called singing. Even the mother was squirming in her seat and giggling at some of the sounds being made.

Why? Why? Why would you put a KTV in a food court?
Beers N Noodles toya…..shane

___________________________________________________________

The soundtrack to this entry was by The Angles
The album was the awesome ‘No Exit’
____________________________________________________________