Mai Dao – the boat graveyard

We walked to the beach today, but went away from the beach and park, and went to a small island – Mai Dao – attached to the city by a very narrow road.  The island appears to be a boat graveyard, and there are piles of ancient fishing boats.  Perhaps they will all be revived again in the spring, perhaps this is where they will stay.  Many did not look very seaworthy, with large holes in the hull.  However, holes can be fixed, and even the fishing boats I have seen out on the water don't look like they could actually float.

Fushan

We went to Fushan again yesterday.  It was a hazy day, and very crowded with families, with everyone still on vacation.  Not much to tell, but we took some pictures.

Spring Festival Fireworks

In a country where you can get a haircut at 10 at night, it is strange to see all of the little shops closed. I was told that years ago, everything would shut down for a whole month. Fortunately, there were still people on the street selling fireworks. We bought some small fireworks, mostly long strings of firecrackers. Some of these are so loud, I was worried about my hearing. We spent the New Year's eve in our apartment, with some breaks outside for lighting firecrackers, because it was quite cold outside (-10 ˚C) and because we had the best view right from our living room window.

The fireworks started early in the afternoon, and by 3 pm it seemed as if there was a low roar through the whole city, like the noise of a jet taking off, punctuated by some of the closer firecrackers being set off. The din from the fireworks waxed and waned until late in the evening, between 11 and just after midnight, when it seemed like the whole town would explode.

From our apartment windows we could see the larger fireworks over by the skyscrapers along the coast. Although there was never a time when the whole cityscape was engulfed in fireworks, there was a perpetual stream of fireworks going up in various quarters from sunset to well past midnight. After 100 photographs, I discovered that fireworks are difficult to photograph. Fortunately, I had hours to practice.

The lights in the buildings across from us are bright and easy to see -- they are under construction and the facade has not yet been put in place. I could see the lights in these building turning on and off in what appeared to be a light show, until I realized these were the stairwell lights turning on in response to the fireworks. The lights in our own stairwell turn on with noise (not motion like in the States, or a timer button like in Europe).

The Beach and the Mountain

On Thursday, we went for a walk along the shore. The park along the beach is lovely with a sculpture garden, and interesting ponds to walk around. At the end of this park is an abandoned building that we think used to be an aquarium. There are also a number of strange round buildings nearby (barely to be seen before the large aquarium in the photo). I have been told that these buildings were part of a small olympic village for the sailing team, and this seems reasonable. In any case, all the buildings stand empty along the beach.

Friday we went the other direction, up Fushan (Mt. Fu). Fushan is a small mountain in the center of the ever expanding city. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the top of the ridge from our apartment. From the peak you can see the entire city surrounding the mountain. A small section is shown below. Despite the city all around, the mountain feels ancient.

There are strange buildings near the top of Fushan, and I can only guess at the original cause or meaning of their placement there. I can see this strange building from my office window in the back of our apartment, and it looks like a pagoda. Up close, it looks like some post-modern watchtower, a modern ruin, decaying back into the mountain.

Arrived

After a ~30 hour flight, with long layovers in Chicago and Beijing, we finally arrived in Qingdao late on Tuesday night. The kids slept more than I did, though we all deny being able to sleep on an airplane.

Our apartment is on the 6th floor of our otherwise empty building. We should be able to see the ocean from our small dining room when the fog lifts. So far there are no sky scrapers yet to block our view. However, we do see the open construction sites where they will go. Fushan (Mount Fu) is to our back. I was told on a tour once that this is an ideal place to live, according to the principles of Fung Shui: The mountain behind supports you from behind, and the ocean provides an open expanse of possibilities for the future.

On our first day, my hosts helped me furnish the kitchen with the necessities, and get the internet working in the apartment. We also got my cell phone working. China has much cheaper, more flexible, and simpler calling plans than in the US. I get 320 minutes and 400 MB of data for (on sale) for 64 RMB (~$10). I wish I could get this deal in the US. After running errands all day, we had a dinner of seafood dumplings and wild oyster soup. Qingdao is famous for seafood, and local dishes include just about every kind of thing that can be pulled out of the ocean, some familiar to me, some not.

On our second day we went for a walk along the ocean. Qingdao has walkways and parks almost all the way along the coast of the city, and it is quite beautiful. Behind these parks is a very busy road, and behind these is typically a layer of brand new luxury apartment sky scrapers. Behind these, the rest of the city – at least the residential part – looks like it could come straight out of norther Europe; three to four story buildings with red tile roofs that would be just at home in Hamburg.

The spring festival, or Chinese new year, starts this weekend. It seems like the whole country will be closed for the next few weeks. I'm concerned that we will be a bit stranded during this time. Perhaps I will have more time to write.