The hostel, called the Old Observatory, was in an old observatory, and one of the rooms for people to hang out in still had a giant telescope in it. As well as that, they had a huge outdoor deck, with tables and couches and a (kinda crappy) pool table. I was in an 8 bed dorm, which also contained one guy and five Chinese girls.
First afternoon, after spending longer than I should have getting around the government internet block, I took a walk around town with an English girl I had met on the boat from Korea. The area immediately outside the hostel was a pleasant stone staircase through the woods, which then emerged into a few hundred metres of destroyed houses. It was like a war zone. If and when I get to a decent-speed internet, I'll get some pictures up. Downtown we had gyoza, which was seriously good, and I felt obligated to try the local Tsingtao beer.
That evening, I heard Irish accents from outside on the deck, and found a group including three Irish and a bunch of other nationalities, all of whom were down from Shanghai. Myself and Anna, the girl from earlier, joined them for food. We got taxis down to near the brewery and ordered an inhuman amount of seafood, and more beer. And then out to a bar afterwards, there were flaming shots, with which I nearly managed to set a table on fire through sheer force of being a retard.
The next day I took it a lot easier. Walked through town again, went down to the seafront and down the pier. Hung out at the hostel with the Chinese girls from my room, eating pig skin (they said) and drinking (not very much) beer from a plastic bag.
I'm in Shanghai right now. Today consisted of a ten hour train.
I lost the seven of clubs. I think it's still in a book in Qingdao. However, a French guy I met in Seoul is going there this week, and may see me again in Thailand or somewhere. Don't give up hope.
Now: pictures.
The view from the roof of the hostel, Qingdao is a mixture of German-style buildings and generic skyscrapers. Before I got there, I somehow had the impression it was a pretty small place, but in hindsight it's got twice the population of Dublin.
The hostel's outdoor area, complete with dome.
It was apparently the first observatory in China.
I'm pretty sure there wasn't a war recently, but I can't be sure.
This is a picture of a street. Having been in Japan so long, it's kind of strange to see churches now.
You know it's a European style street because you can buy wine.
There were about two dozen couple taking wedding photos outside this thing. I thought it was for a catalogue or something.
The city from the pier.
The pier from, uh, a different part of the pier.
1 comment:
Spectacular skies!
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