QingDao, by the Yellow Sea

Pearl Market, Here we come.

We are ready.

If we travel by Bullet train three hundred miles, averaging just over 100 miles per hour, how long with it take us to ... to get hungry?

We started off by traveling by taxi to the wrong train station. Then we found a little trike car to take us the 10 more miles to the right train station. This was hoot to be in and we laughed at the adversity. We laughed and laughed. We laughed so hard that we were almost late for our train because the little blue jelly bean car went about as fast as we could walk and the driver was turning off the engine at every stop light. This car was about to self destruct as well, as it sounded like it was on it's last breath of life.

The train ride was smooth and really comfortable. We read books. Jay has great novel in tow. It is called "California Gold".

We stayed in the dorms at QingDao University for $150 yuan per night for two nights. REmember to divide by 7 to get the US dollar amount....Thereby: a little over 20 dollars per night. We had a nice place and the bed was great although a little hard.

One of the main reasons to go on this trip was to go to the Pearl Market there. Pearls are plentiful and and prices are good. Dana bought a sack full of pearl necklaces.

That night we went to Student Plays at the University. Some were in Chinese, some English, but the capper, the real surprise, was the one in French.

New shopping hat for this city.

Great art there, except I could have thought of this one, and done it in Marshmallow. It would have been better.

The clock tower in the photos below showed this sign clearly for all visitor to see. It explained the clocks and how they worked. Spell Check would have been a real good idea before going the sign shop.

QingDao is beautiful in the summer. I took a picture of a pictures...

The old church...It was on our tour.

I found this old lady doing a watercolor painting of the church in the far away corner. I peeked in with my camera....

The are lookout and communication towers on the mountain top. I joked with my students that these looked like alien space ships and that they should be prepared to see some aliens in town now...

The old museum was the place were MAO stayed overnight. It is historic. We even saw his bed in the photo below. WOW!

End of Museum Photos...

We tried to get in to see the Catholic Church which is here, but it was locked. Got some photos though...

At the little street meat market. This guy was cutting up pigs. I learned this week that in China, Donkey meat is one of the best tasting meats... I have yet to try that one. Have not even seen any donkeys here. Where do they get their donkey meat?


The sign was outside the Buddist Temple and I did not see it until after I took the photos inside the Temple during one of their meetings... Again I was kicked out and told "NO PHOTOS!" But I had my photos already. Again, a lot more than Spell Check is needed on this sign. Joss sticks are the incense candles or sticks they use to send up prayers to heaven. See photos way below this one...

The old Prison was fun to see. We toured the entire thing and had a great time in Prison.

We went to QingDao, City by the Yellow Sea. We saw the sights there.

At the Buddist Museum and Temple, Dana found the Golden Tree. Yes all the leaves are fake and Gold. They were glued on. Get it to make a golden tree to worship. There was a small three leaved piece on the ground and I asked the Guards if I could have it as a memory thing and they said yes, take it. So I have a piece of this tree and I did not steal it.

At the beach of the Yellow Sea. We were quite cold as it was blowing and about 35 degrees F.

The famous QingDao Dock.