Shandong Trip

We're visiting my auntie in Qingdao. We stayed at her apartment for 5 nights. That saved us some accommodation expenses, heh...heh... In total, we spent about RM 600 pp for 9D8N in Shandong Province, China.

Qingdao 青岛 is a port. Jinan 济南 is the capital of Shandong 山东 Province. An express train from Qingdao to Jinan took about 3.5 hours; an express bus from Jinan to TaiAn 泰安 took about 1.5 hours; an express bus from TaiAn to Qufu 曲阜 took about 2 hours; an express bus from Qufu to Qingdao took about 5 hours. The flight from Seoul to Qingdao took about 45 min.

Day 1

Upon arrival at Qingdao International Airport, we took a taxi to my auntie's apartment. Like usual, there's a number of illegal taxi drivers trying to get passengers in the airport. Just ignore them and get a taxi from a uniform-clad traffic officer. Flying in from Korea to China, it was as if we're back to the literate world, in which we could read all the signboards and we could communicate with the locals. Phew! No more sign language. But, of course, the country is dustier and dirtier.


My auntie's apartment was by the seaside. The weather was good and we had a stroll at the seaside.

Qingdao is an industrial port city. It is the cleanest city in China. Back in the 19th century, Hong Kong was ceded to the British in 1897; Qingdao was ceded to the German in 1898 and Macao was ceded to the Portuguese in 1899. Due to the German occupation for 99 years, Qingdao is teemed with Bavarian buildings. It's China's Switzerland.

The area of BaDaGuan is a small Europe. All the buildings there are of western architecture. We visited the most famous building there, called HuaShiLou. The mansion was once the home of Russian aristocrats. It was then turned into German Governor's retreat. Before the leader of Party Kuomintang (Chiang Kai Shek) fled to Taiwan, he stayed here.

After marvelling at the Bavarian township, I was mesmerized by the Korean food in this restaurant (lost my mind to take photo, aiyoh!). It's a sit-down buffet, where plates after plates of delicious dishes were served continuously... seems like endless! The Flintstone-esque presentation was very unique. Cups, plates, bowls, saucers etc used macam imported from the stone-age era.

Day 2

LaoShan 崂山 is just a mere 40 km from Qingdao town. There are many temples scattered at the foot of the hill and on top of the hill. LaoShan is a Taoist retreat. We visited the temples. There're ShangQingGong 上清宫, TaiQingGong 太清宫 and many more Gongs 宫. To me, all the Gongs look alike, and all the stories sound alike.

We're hiking up the hill coz the cable car service was unavailable. Along the steps up the hill, there were a lot of souvenirs for sale. The rewards for the hike was a scenic view of the sea. LaoShan is famous as it's a hill by the seaside.

Another reward for a hard day was steamboat dinner. No tomyam flavoured soup here. The specialty was the brownish peanut gravy.

Day 3

Early in the morning, we left for Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. Train ticket from Qingdao to Jinan costs RMB 48 pp. The train was bigger, therefore more spacious compared to KTMB. Shandong people must be taller, coz the luggage rack is very high.
After 3.5 hours, we reached Jinan. The place is dirty, just like Puduraya. To my amazement, the transportation system fares much better than M'sia. It's very systematic. Long-distance express buses lined up orderly at the bus station just opposite the railway station. Unlike Puduraya where you've to hunt ur way to locate ur bus, there were electronic LED boards at each lane, indicating the destination of the buses parked at the lanes. By doing this, u save the hassle of asking around on which bus you've to take, unless you can't read Chinese.

I didn't like the choking feeling of Jinan. Too many people, too many taxis, too many buses, too crowded. China has improved tremendously. No more hordes of bicycle armies on the road. Trying to escape the crowd, we visited the Yellow River Park. Entrance fee = RMB 5. Frankly, there's nothing to "see" there. It was in a shabby state, near to abandonment. Anyhow, it was a good place to have a quiet nap with fresh air.

Spring Water Garden. Entrance fee = RMB 15. Water springs to the surface of earth. The water is cold.

I'm ochlophobic and I'm always uneasy with crowds and traffic jams. (That's why I've been sick for 2.5 months, ever since I was assigned to work in KL town) Didn't feel like exploring the city of Jinan. Fully utilized the hotel room of RMB 180 to watch TV.

Day 4

Big Clear Lake. The lake is big. Entrance fee = RMB 15. Coincidentally, there was an Old Folks Celebration going on and we seized the opportunity to be entertained by the folk dances, Taichi and songs. The weather was good, cooling but not so cold. The locals enjoyed playing cards and chinese chess in the public. I enjoyed strolling down the park. Can't find such place back in M'sia. So sad.

For 2 consequtive days, I patronized KFC in Jinan coz I found the other local eateries dirty and unappetizing. KFC is localized. They have chicken dipped in Beijing sauce, hot honey-lemonade juice and almond-flavoured ice-cream.

After lunch we took a 1.5-hour bus to TaiAn, the town of TaiShan. Bus fare = RMB 15. TaiAn is a "student" town with "modern" technology. There are lots of boarding schools around and thus there are many teenagers around. I was surprised to find how creative and innovative the entrepreneurs are. The shops have funny and gimmicky names. (Of course, you need to understand Chinese in order to appreciate their creativities) There's a barber shop named "理还乱" - a phrase following the phrase of "剪不断" - "剪" implies that you need to cut ur hair!

We stayed in a newly renovated hostel-like hotel. We were lucky as there's only 1 room with 3 beds. The IKEA-like room only costs RMB 100 per nite. The owner of the hotel must be a young and IT-savvied entrepreneur. The room design, the furniture and the "price tags" are really IKEA-styled. There's a book menu, Windows XP-styled with Yahoo Messenger's emoticons, listing down all the price of items available in the room, explicitly declaring the price you've to pay if those items were lost (you purposely steal it or you wanna take it as a souvenir or 1001 of reasons... who cares?) or damaged. Packets of condoms and panties are readily available on the table, together with packets of instant noodles and drinks. Just like items on the supermarket shelves, they have price tags on them. Wah-lau-eh, it really opens my eyes!

We had a steamboat dinner. Everyone has his/her own personal pot. Very hygienic! Food is very cheap too! I'm an 80% vegetarian. I cannot tahan the cheap vege on the menu. The waiter has to stop me from ordering as the vege comes in big portion and nobody has ordered so much before. The waiter said politely, "小姐，这也太多了吧？"! Aiyoh, only RMB 1 for a big plate of green-leaf vege. How to resist the temptation?

Day 5

The small hotel we're staying in has its own chain of supermarket and eatery. You've to buy a debit card in order to buy food in the foodcourt. After breakfast, we walked our way to TaiShan. We walked past the TaiShan Hospital. My mom dragged me to seek chinese medical consultation regarding my feverish feeling + heavy chest that has prolonged for 2.5 months. Registration fee only costs RMB 5. I guess the locals are very healthy people as I couldn't see any other patients. Unlike hospitals in M'sia where you've to spend 1/2 day waiting for your turn, here, I get to talk to the doctor directly after registration.

Nobody on earth would believe that I've been sick for 2.5 months. I look "born dragon live tiger" engaging in outdoor activities. Once stuck in traffic jams, cramped in air-con sealed offices and trapped within the crowds, my body will automatically lapse into feverish mode. It's called stress. And I was told to keep myself away from things that would stress me up, such as avoid driving, avoid crowds.


Lulu Boleh! Actually, not that boleh. The mountain is 1545 m in height and the route up is about 7.5 km. Need to take a bus at TianWaiCun (sky-outside-village) Square to ZhongTianMen (middle-sky-door) Station, then, take a cable car up to NanTianMen (south-sky-door) Station. Entrance fee to TaiShan = RMB 100. 2-way buses + 1-way cable car = RMB 83. The ticket comes with insurance coverage.












If you want to save RMB 83 on the buses and cable car, you can take the staircase way up. Not so many steps lah, only about 6660 steps and would probably just take 4 hours to reach NanTianMen.






From NanTianMen, we've to climb our way up to the top of the mountain.

There are a number of hotels on top of the mountain. There are many shops, many restaurants. Things are not expensive. A bowl of noodles only costs RMB 6. The roti canai costs RMB 3.

I'm on the top of the world lookin', down on creation that's the only explanation I can find....

Geram tengok the fat cat on our way down. Their furs are very soft. I envied the cats very much. They got to live in the mountain with fresh air and clean water, while we city bumpers got to live in a pollution-choked town.

My kaki sakit for the next 6 days after walking down from TaiShan to ZhongTianMen where the bus station is. I had difficulty bending my leg the next day, my calves cramped. I really admired this uncle who carries goods up the mountain everyday. After so much hardship, a bowl of noodle only costs RMB 6. Huh...

Day 6

Due to leg ache, my hand stopped taking notes of our expenditure. ?! Hah...hah... Qufu, pronounced as qu3 fu4 is the hometown of Confucius. It's a newly developed tourist spots. People just came to see the 3 Kongs, i.e. Kong's Temple, Kong's Tombs and Kong's Residence.

地瓜= sweet potato. The hawker was selling roasted sweet potato.

Many people came to pray in the Kong's Temple so that their children or grandchildren will become scholars. Hm... I also need to pray so that I can gain admission into a university. But the entrance fee into the Kong's Temple was very expensive, about RMB 60. So, just "pray" from afar!

We took our lunch in a small restaurant. The so-called Kong's tofu is not nice, they purposely overfry the tofu so that it has the burnt smell.

The streets are clean.

Day 7

This Governor's Residence was built in 1903. The extravagant governor was sacked bcoz he spent 2,450, 000 taels of silver building this mansion. 1 tael = 38 grams. Mathematically, he spent 93,100 kg of silver building this luxurious residential mansion.

At our time of visit, the back portion of the mansion was closed to public bcoz a film shooting was carrying out. Under the glass ceiling, we could see 19th-century-costume-clad actors and actresses. The whole setting was so elegant.

The Governor's Residence was named 迎宾馆. Prominent politics figures like chairman Mao, Deng XiaoPing, Zhou EnLai and Liu ShaoQi had stayed there.

A big fat cat who has made the mansion its home.

This is a rotating tower. It's situated on top of a hill. From the tower, we can have a magnificent view of the Qingdao town.

This is a bird's eye view of the Governor's Residence we just visited.

Parkson supermarket. A Malaysian owned departmental store.

Zhan4 Qiao2. I was fooled by its name. It has nothing to do with war. The word "zhan4" is the 栈 of a guest house, not war. The pier, reach out into the bay, has 8-sided HuiLan Pavilion at the end.

Bumped into HSBC again.