1. China Construction Bank. What?
2. Glorious, glorious seafood. I'd forgotten how much I love it.
3. Intrepid travelers in front of the St. Michael's Catholic Cathedral. Again, what? Definitely not China.
4. Yup, it's a cathedral all right. The crosses were buried in a mountainside by local Christians during the Cultural Revolution, and replaced after during restoration.
5. We spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how the clock worked at the Protestant Church. Mad props to whoever figured out how to do that in the first place. Stuff is complicated.
6. Fisherman by the sea at dusk. The sea was remarkably calm.
7. "TsingTao Beer can give you peace and happiness" The Chinese: "TsingTao Beer, the world's drunkenness!"
8. Oh snap, watch out, the god of wine is Coming!
9. Wort separator. Learning about making beer was surprisingly fascinating. The history of Tsingtao Beer is closely linked with the history of Qingdao itself and all of China—established by Germans, who developed the city and the company, later taken over by the Japanese during World War I, who nominally returned it to the KMT and China after the war, but actually kept operating it as part of Sapporo, after World War II it was actually returned to the KMT, but ran into troubles and mismanagement, after Liberation in 1949, it became a nationalized industry, which lead to fabulous increases in production, but eventually after Reform and Opening in 1979 it privatized and issued stocks, and has become a world-renowned brand. I'm sure the same is true for many companies in China, but it was fascinating to go through it step by step with photos, advertisements, etc.
10. Beach!
11. More beach!
12. One of those random German homes, which has now been divided into a number of small businesses and homes, including train ticket sales, recycling, and auto repair.
13. Mao with a first tone instead of second means cat, so I was pleased to find that Mao had returned to one of his former abodes (below). The prodigal son returns!
14. This used to be the German governor's mansion, and has been a museum since Mao spent a month here in the summer of 1957, and held a meeting with all the CCP leaders at the time. Beautiful interior, all wonderfully preserved.
15. OMG MAO SLEPT HERE
16. Card drinking game that An Qiongen and I learned how to play at "Beer Street" Oh the intensity.
17. Cross-table toast. Look at that impeccable form, he makes it look so easy.
18. Ganbei! Down it!
19. Are those…no…wait…those are shark fins?! Yup, and they're enormous. They also had full dried sharks for sale too, although they weren't the ones that made those fins thankfully
20. I don't know, I like doors.
21. Kid collecting sea shells by the sea shore.
22. MUSCLE BEACH GET BIG! Doesn't really compare to Venice Beach haha
23. Self-timer success!
24. Qingdao doesn't have sea lions, they have pairs of brides and grooms that bask in the sun on the rocks instead.
25. The area called Badaguan, Eight passes, consists of eight streets lined with different trees named after the eight main passes of the Great Wall and enormous villas, and is a favorite spot for taking wedding photos.
26. I couldn't get enough, I thought it was hilarious.
27. Father and son
28. Sunset across the bay of Bathing Beach No. 1
29. Local fisherman discuss repairs.
30. Enjoying the sunset.
31. Nice.
Great pics! I came to Qingdao to stay for six months... but that was January 2006 ;-) There's a lot to like about it, especially on a gorgeous summer day like you got.
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