My second day in Qingdao, I really just wandered without purpose. I knew there was a beach - I went to what I thought was the beach, just at the end of Zhongshan Road - the main drag of Old Town. It wasn’t much of a beach, but I have since learned that there are six official bathing beaches strung along the coast, and this isn’t one of them. There’s a pier here, totally crowded with people walking on it, but it doesn’t go out very far. Instead, I could see a big, impressive looking building further around, so investigated - it’s the naval maritime museum - passport needed to get in.
Coming back towards town, I noticed an even more official looking building - the People’s Municipal Congress of Qingdao. It’s somehow more than a city council, as it involves the Communist party at a national level, but I haven’t really been able to get my head around what it actually does. Nearby is the courthouse built by the Germans while they were in power. I would have liked to go in an have a look round, but looking in, I could see only people with a door code could make it into the interior. I tried to look interested enough that the people might invite me in but no go.
So it was a sort of nothing day in that I didn’t achieve much, but that was the point - I just wanted to get a feel for the place, and I still think its one of the best places I have been, ever. In the evening, I was in Silverfish Street - translated from its original Chinese name. Its the first street built by the Germans, and has been given new life as Qingdao’s cool street - some boutique shopping, cafes, the craft beer place I found. I was there as late as 11 one night, and there were still people posing for pictures.
I don’t really know what time this city closes down: around my hotel, there are several streets lined with seafood restaurants - tanks of live seafood converted into huge platters (more than I was willing to take on) - with everyone eating at tables on the footpaths, empty beer bottles piled up. They’d still be doing a roaring trade at midnight.
No places had English menus, and staff didn’t speak English but they did have a lot of pictures, which is how I navigated eating here (unless I was just grabbing street food). I think I spotted just two other Westerners while I was here, which made me very much a rarity when I went into restaurants, but we always got there in terms of ordering food. I liked this chilli pork and pepper dish a lot, but my favourite meal was the crispy chicken dish I had at a venerable, 70 year old restaurant. They didn’t do pictures, so I had to rely on translate. I had actually gone in because the guidebook had said they did good dumplings, but I couldn’t identify any on the menu (they can be quite creative in naming food). I did see crispy chicken - but I didn’t know how it would come or how much. Well, it was a whole chicken!
It was so delicious that I ate the whole thing, with just some rice and a beer to go with it. The staff seemed a little bemused, but I did notice another fellow by himself who not only got the chicken but a pile of dumplings as well. He at least was using chopsticks, and picked away at his lunch quite languidly. I was all in, with my hands. They gave me a wee red packet, which I thought was the normal wet wipe for when I was done but no, it was plastic gloves. They seemed quite anxious that I use them - several staff members brought a packet over then took it away when they saw I had one. Not sure how many etiquette rules I broke here.
Cheers.
Qingdao looks fascinating. I’m curious to learn more about its history & cuisine! Enjoying my vicarious visit with you!