I visited Qingdao to attend a business meeting from May.17 through 19, 2017. This is a new place for me to visit first time in China. I was a bit excited about this trip. I left Haneda by a Cathay Dragon’s red-eye flight and got by way of Hong Kong after 12 hours.
Qingdao, once a German colonial town before the WWW.I, is a beautiful city on the south of the Shangdong peninsula, Northeast China. German left footprints on the soil during the occupation from 1898 until 1914, breweries, churches, schools, wide road, European buildings, railways, to name a few. The city hosted the Olympic games in 2008.
I wanted to visit the museum of Tsingdao Brewery Company while my stay. By the time I checked in at the hotel, I realized I could not make it because the museum close at 4 o’clock the museum and I decided to walk around the town instead. I know I would have no chance to visit the museum this time as I will attend the meeting full day during the stay. Maybe I would have another chance to come, I hope. The hotel I stayed is located near the seashore. There is a main road along the beach which leads to the Qindgdao railway station. There are parks, promenades and beaches along the road. I walked toward the station through them. View of the ocean from the beach was beautiful and calming, which is different from the shore side with modern high risings and busy roads. I enjoyed my stroll without knowing. The hill around the station has large concentration of historical buildings during the German occupation era. There are nice western style houses and historical buildings here and there, which makes the city different from the other cities in China. Walking toward the station about an hour, a spire of Christian Church came into my sight at a top of the hill ahead. I know that is St. Michael’s Cathedral, built in 1934. It was originally designed during the occupation. Construction of the church started after Germany had given up the colony and completed in 1934. Germany lost the territory after the first worldwide war. Entering the precinct, I found a lot of couples in wedding dresses who were doing a bridal photo shoot. I was not able to enter the cathedral as it was already closed. Watching the young couples, I left for the hotel as it got dark. May god bless those young couples.
When I returned to the hotel, I felt hungry after a few hours of walk. I headed to a dumpling restaurant near the hotel. I learned about the restaurant from a blog posted by an Japanese airline. It is a chain restaurant operated I ordered a dish of dumplings, a steamed clams and beer. All come in large size, for 2 or 3 persons. Even the beer was in a pitcher of about 1litter. The taste was not bad.I ate up all. The beer was cold enough. ( You must know people drink beer of room temperature at many restaurant. ) That is good. The taste was not bad. The dumplings are wrapped by thick wrappers and of pleasantly sticky texture. Different from what we eat in Japan. I ate up all. The beer was cold enough. (You must know people drink beer of room temperature at many local restaurant. ) good. I later found the restaurant is known to serve dishes in large size. Maybe I can ask the wait to service in small. But I am afraid they do not understand well. That is okay as I enjoyed the food very much.
I completed my business meeting in the following two days and left the town by a Cathay dragon’s flight to Hong Kong on May.19. It was busy itinerary. But I was able to walk the beautiful town and see the Cathedral and eat dumplings what they are eaten in China. I think I am happy.