Qingdao....pickpocketing, peeps and plenty of pijiu

I am currently on the train on my way back from Qingdao, a sea side city close enough to Cangzhou that I thought a short trip to the coast would be the best idea after some intense uni and considering it's summer holidays! What started out as a brilliant idea  was a near disaster. The rain and misty weather I could handle, the disappointing beaches I could handle, the initial lack of any humans seeming remotely cool I could handle, the lack of fun activities in the city I could handle, it was the violation of being pick-pocketed - losing all my money, train tickets and credit cards that was the biggest disappointment and could have ruined my brilliant idea altogether. But alas,  Qingdao came through with me and this is my tale of a seaside city in China!

The beauty of summer holidays where I am in China is the ability to consolidate my classes and get away for a bit! Teaching is easy, uni is great due to the abundance of time I have to concentrate on it and I love my city! Downside - NO FOREIGNERS! So my little trips away act as my little bursts of social interaction and so far it has been a successful adventure each and every time meeting great people and having crazy adventures. So I packed up my gear and toddled off to the beach for four days!

Travelling solo has it's absolute ups and absolute downs if you don't meet great people! I arrived at Qingdao full of expectancy for a full hostel and an abundance of adventure-seeking travellers. On first sight, a Brit in my dorm who turned out to never leave his room and few stragglers in the downstairs bar that weren't interested in any small talk. So I parked myself down with my laptop and guide book and figured out what I was going to do in this town. I hadn't done much research as I had been super busy with study. That kept me occupied until I got talking to the old eccentric German, Chinese speaking man who had many tales to tell about his adventures in China over the last couple of years!

After a while I was done talking all things German man and decided to re-locate myself and finalise some assessments that needed to be handed in. And enjoy my free Tsingtao beer. (Oh, I forgot to mention Qingdao is the home of the famous  Chinese beer - Tsingtao which is the other attraction and reason for visiting Qingdao)  Enter Brian, and American, a  new dorm buddy and fellow solo traveller. Brian planted himself down across from me with a beer and we proceeded to fill each other in on our lives, travels and plans - the usual! Enter Peter , a young Chinese (actually a local from my town) and keen to practice his English. We all decided we should venture out for some dinner and sightseeing around Qingdao!

Dinner! After a gigantic circle around the neighbouring streets we finally made it pretty much back to our hostel to a nearby seafood restaurant (Qingdao is also famed for it's seafood). Ordering dinner consisted of finding the yummiest looking fish swimming around and watching as the waitress smashed it on the ground several times (in the entrance way) weighed it and asked for our preparation preferences. Needless to say, it tasted very fresh! Haha! Oh, the shocks of China continue…four months in!

Dinner was great and complete with a beer in a bag! Yep, that's right. On the street at every second step there is kegs with beer and plastic bags. Beer in a bag! Less than classy but so cheap! 2¥ which equates to about $0.30 for 1/2 a litre. AWESOME! It was great having Peter tag along, it is always handy to have a little Chinese guide when you are new to a place.

After a BIG sleep in the next day and some breakfast (less than impressive), and coffee (less than impressive). Brian and I had think about what we wanted to do for the day and decided on a trip to the beach on the east side of town where it is supposed to be that much nicer. Good intentions, but it didn't quite work out that way. We ventured down to the Pier to check it out….amongst the throngs of people were small time food  vendors and  illegal jewellery hawkers (who freaked out once they saw the police turn up. It is amazing how quick they can get rid of the evidence). We made our way down to where we though the bus would be passing a few monkeys! Yes! Monkeys, on leashes with a guy forcing them to do tricks or risk punishment. It was quite sad but I couldn't help watching. It was just awful! The beach was horrible! The algae was too much! The entire surf of the beach was filled with algae about 5 metres back from the shoreline and people were actually swimming in it! Aghh! The rubbish of course was monumental and I was so sad to see nature being treated in such a way! It made me want to get out my protest banner.

We finally found the bus and jumped on - very cramped and very hot. I fished out my 2¥ for my bus ticket and popped my money purse back in the front pocket of my bag! The kind old lady next to me motioned to me to make sure my bag was zipped shut which I did and left it at that. 10 minutes later…my bag is unzipped and it's gone. I just couldn't believe it! Considering how close I was standing next to Brian and that we were near the exit where people would be looking, I couldn' t believe someone had managed to open my bag and take my money, tickets and c/c! Devastating! I think I have been too lucky and taken it for granted hey.

I frantically started looking for it in people's hands, on the floor to no avail. Trying to talk to someone was a disaster - I could only motion something was taken. A young girl who spoke English came to my rescue and helped explain to the ticket inspection girl and the bus driver what had happened! It all happened so fast but the bus came to a stand still and we all sat there sweating up a storm unti l the police came which the driver had kindly called!

The police: I didn't really see the point in wasting my time with the police - I was never going to get my cash back. But I suppose the more awareness that is raised about tourists  being targets helps the next one. And a police report wouldn't go astray for insurance. It is actually a very unusual situation. The chinese aren't known for this type of behaviour. They are generally an honest people. But we are tourists and we were in a very tourist area so whoever was seeking an opportune moment found it. The police were lovely. We had to wait for an interpreter but it was all good. We spent a couple of hours going through the details, translations etc. In the meantime I set my mum onto cancelling my cards, I set my boss onto finding someone that she knows to help me out. The whole time I was fine. These things happen and I was so lucky that I had Brian with me - at least to get a bus ticket home. It would have been a nightmare!

The cops gave us a free ride home which was awesome and in the meantime my boss had organised for a friend of a friend to bring me money. We ducked out for some lunch - so hungry by this stage and made it back in time for Shi Shi's contact to rock up with 2000¥ and a whole bag of food! Man, talk about my faith being restored. This lady didn't speak a word of English, didn't know me or my boss but I was in need and she was there so fast! The Chinese can be so amazingly generous. It was a quick turn around - going from feeling so violated to so blessed. It took all the stress away and meant I could enjoy the rest of my time in Qingdao. And that I did.

Brian had his own dilemmas. He had bought a bus ticket from a private company on the side of the road and was supposed to take the bus to Shanghai. Lucky for him he had called prior to going to find them. They weren't going any more! Ah! He spent a good two hours running around trying to find them and get his money back before eventually doing so. So turns out he was staying longer! While he was off doing that I was talking to another world traveller (literally had been everywhere - TWICE) getting some tips about India. He was 40, living in China, learning Chinese and doing business on line! Good deal! But after an hour or so of all about me world traveller I had had enough again and luckily he was off to meet someone for dinner.

Enter, Hannah, my new roomie. A German travelling with her brother and sister. Germans that I usually come across are very stand offish . But Hannah was keen for a chat and some tips about Qingdao. Brian and I were heading off for dinner and they happened to come to the same spot…here the formation of our crew began!

Enter Danny (UK), Cecilia (Sweden), Andreas (Sweden), Peter (US) and the crew just kept getting bigger! Banding together to avoid crazy drunk chinese men who were up for a good old chin wag in Chinglish, we bonded over a few beers and tales of China oh and politics…of course! I am finding that politics seems to be the conversation of choice when your with a crew repping the western world!!

The night began to wind down after we were kicked out of the roadside establishment and enter Peter 2 (US). He and a mate had just turned up and made the final members of the Qingdao expat crew!

The next couple of days consisted of beer (pijiu)! Touring the brewery with beer tasting, hanging out on Beer St drinking beer (There was torrential rain so I had we had to pass the time productively right?) and having more beers on our arrival back home! Not to mention amazing food!! Ah! I cannot even tell you how amazing the food in China is! I am loving it!!

Once again! Sad to say goodbye! I really hate saying goodbye to all these awesome people I meet! But a few email addresses and facebook adds later it was time for me to return home while the others continued on with their journey. An early morning rise and a 4 hr train ride and I was back in Cangzhou to face the reality of work and study again! Haha! Ah, I really have it hard hey! Hehe!

The whole time I was away I was completely unaware of my apparent visa problems that have me making plan B,C and D in case I can't come back! I can't get the visa I need to come and go as I please so I will just have to play it by ear and hope I get a happy visa processing officer happy to determine my fate in my favour and let me back into China after India! But if not, there is always the rest of this big wide world! So I am excited about the unknown yet, hoping and praying my very well laid out plans can still be achieved!

So after a crazy week with sightings of a naked man with one shoe, a day time prostitute with a full blown mullet, a baby peeing on the floor of KFC,  a fish being killed on the floor in front of me, watching trained monkeys be threatened with whipping, losing my voice (unable to teach) and  being robbed - I am happy to report that I am safely back in Cangzhou and anticipating my next adventure….which is….Hong Kong….again…..in 1 weeks time….I will report back then! Over and out!

Love to you all!

HJ xx