A beautiful seaside city that is situated in the southeast part of Shandong province in China.This beautiful city is close to the yellow sea across which are the neighboring countries Korea and Japan.This makes it an important port for international trade.
This bewitching city even played host for the sailing event in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing! Well,by now you must have guessed that I am taking about 'Qingdao'.
In May 2009,we were getting back the travel itch after staying at home for more than a couple of months due to harsh winter.When the climate got warmer hubby could not take the weekends off due to his hectic work schedule and I was desperate to travel.
Around that time,hubby's colleagues family visited him from India and we found this to be a perfect opportunity for travel. His family live in our apartment and this gave us the perfect chance to plan the outing.
We had heard a lot about Qingdao and hubby had been there during the olympics but at that time I was in India with lil angel who was just a few months old.So there was no way I could join him then.
All plans were made for the following weekend and we were ready to start off from our town on Saturday morning.We had arranged a car for both the families to travel comfortably...
Packing for the trip was an easy task.Two bags for the adults[MIL,hubby and me] and one large bag with lil angels things.
His friend's wife and me are vegetarians so we planned to cook a whole day's meal and pack with us.She prepared Chapathi and kurma and the mandatory coffee for breakfast while I prepared Tamarind rice,curd rice and Potato curry for lunch.These two sets of dishes are very apt for travel.I woke up at around 4 am to prepare these dishes and do the last minute chores.Both the families decided to bring lots of snacks to tide us over in case we did not find a vegetarian meal.
Armed with all these the 7 of us set out to see the enchanting city of Qingdao at 7 am that Saturday morning.
We stopped at a highway motel to stretch and had coffee there.After all the rush in the morning to cook and pack the food,I felt truly relaxed after the hot coffee went down my throat.
Once again we started the journey and all along the way I was busy clicking pics.That time I didn't even think of starting a travel blog.
We took the highway and all along the way we could see greenery and mountains .We kept munching snacks and gulping down juices all along the way that we never gave the tummy a change to get hungry.Our original plan was to stop on the way to have breakfast but we never got around to eat it.
Around 1pm we reached Qingdao,but it took another half an hour to get to the hotel that we had booked for the stay.The driver did not speak a word of English and he seemed to be amused to hear us speak Chinese.
The GPRS in the car was helpful only after hubby called up his English speaking colleague and asked him to talk to the driver.
Right at the entrance of the city we were greeted by the Qingdao (Tsingtao) Beer factory!!!
It is a famous brand in China and if you love beer be sure to try it out.And yes,they also have a beer festival every year!!!
I felt a sudden thrill when we entered the city.There were colonial architecture and modern buildings standing side by side.I later learnt that until 1949,for around 30 years or so,Qingdao was a colony of Germany and Japan.Hence one can see the colonial architecture mingling with the skyscrapers.Take a look at the cityscape....
We stayed at the Qingdao Champs Elysees Business Hotel-a four star hotel that is situated near the Olympic sailing center.
We spent a good deal of time at the reception filling out forms and even more time when they learn we were Indians who could speak Chinese!!The staffs at the reception desk were so inquisitive to know everything about us-our dress,culture,food....
We had a hard time explaining all these as they kept asking questions after questions and finally we managed to tell them we were tired and the kids were hungry.
Only after we settled down in our respective rooms did we realize we were as hungry as the kids.The lunch session began in our room and had to hurry up as were had plans to go sight-seeing immediately.
We had scheduled to visit the 'polar ocean world' and it would close in case we were late.Lunch,a quick wash-up and we were ready to see the real Qingdao and its attractions!!
Just about that time I looked out of the window[our room was on the 13th floor] to catch a breath taking scene below!!!
Truly captivating isn't it!!!
I will be back to take you around the fascinating 'Polar ocean world' where I witnessed the dolphin show for the very first time in my life...
See you soon...
1 comment:
its great start....
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