Qingdao

Last week we took a last minute trip up to Qingdao...a FABULOUS city on the north coast of China. It has many bays, but essentially right on the ocean. You can see quite a few gigantic ships coming in and going out. It was one of the few weekends we had left while the weather was cool to enjoy more sites of China. We looked online, found cheap tickets, and the next day we were on the plane for our 1 hour flight there.

Qingdao will the the city for the sailing events in next year's Olympics. They are quite proud and there are signs all over to inform anyone. We are looking forward to watching it on TV to just see again what a beautiful city it is.

Thankfully, while we were there, the beach bums had all gone home and we could enjoy ourselves without all the extra tourists and people.

We left the house at 6:30 am and so by the time we arrived and took the 1 1/2 taxi to our hotel (with normal traffic it should only be 30-45mins), it was nap time. We checked in at the Super 8 and took one look at our room and knew this wasn't a good idea. It was ideal in the fact that we could put the kids to bed and have somewhere to go, but while they were awake it would have been a nightmare! For the five minutes we were in there, it was up and down the steel stairs for Tally. We are trying to stay out of emergency room in China. Tim went to talk to the front desk and we had to upgrade rooms to get out of that one, but finally it was time for naps. We all rested for a few hours and then we were up and out. We took off walking and found a few interesting parks one with amusement rides. We just walked around until we decided it was time to eat. We looked for a good restaurant, but being quite hungry we settled for a KFC (I am a Chinese food pansy). After dinner, it was dark, but we walked along the beach with the girls anyways. It was so refreshing! The air was crisp and cool and nobody to bother us. We strolled for a couple of hours until it was time for bed.

The next morning we took a cab to another fantastic restaurant, McDonalds! (I think by the time we are finished living in China we will never want to eat there again, but for now it sounds delish.) Chinese food is pretty much the same for breakfast as it is the rest of the day and it just doesn't sound good that early in the morning. The cab driver took us to the most perfect one, it happened to be just down the street for one of the churches we wanted to see. Germans occupied the city from 1897 to 1914 and during this time they built many German style buildings and 2 churches. These buildings totally stand out in China! We then wandered around the town and ended up at most of the places we wanted to visit and then some.

The nicest part about the whole day was that we could just be a family on a vacation. Very few people bothered us for pictures or touched the girls. Our pictures don't capture how beautiful this town really is!

Since this day was Tim's birthday, he found a place that sounded good to eat. A fancier type restaurant that served the best food we've had so far in China! Our meal that filled us to the max....$8.00! Why can't they open up one of those around the corner from our place here in Shanghai. Notice Tally in the picture happily eating her rice. We thought she was done eating (the fried rice hadn't arrived) and in order for us to enjoy the rest of dinner, we gave her a sucker to help babysit! That sucker was immediately put down once the rice arrived....it goes back to that conversation of what Tally will say when the other kids from America are talking about their favorite foods!

Our last day in Qingdao reminded us that we were in China. It was crowded and we could barely take 5 steps without being asked for pictures and people touching the girls. (It was the pier in the background with Tim and Adayla, that solid line is all people!) They built a little pier with a small pagoda. We just had to hold onto the girls, not only was it windy, but China is just not kid proof. It was just so beautiful though that it was worth bumping into all the people. After leaving there, we strolled along the shore, the girls played in the sand, and we found a GIANT jump castle for the girls to play in! It was the biggest one I had ever seen and it only had 2 other kids in it. The girls could jump as long as they liked and they loved it!

We were sad to leave, we just loved the city! The next morning we packed and flew back to Shanghai and are back into our normal routine.