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.