Birthplace of Daoism and China's best beer

Trip Start Jun 10, 2008
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Trip End Jan 25, 2009


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Flag of China  , Shandong,
Thursday, August 7, 2008

After classes were over, our program spent two days in Qingdao, home to
world-famous Tsingtao beer, sailing of the 2008 Olmpics and Laoshan
mountain, birthplace of daoism.  This is the capitol city of Shandong
Province and convinced me that Shandong is one of the best province in
China.  The city is huge, 7 or 8 million people, and I didn't see a
single bit of it that wasn't beautiful and affluent-looking.  Under the
overpasses (where it's shady) the old men don't just play chinese chess
and mah jong, but actually have about a dozen pool tables in each
place Laoshan
Laoshan
 .  It's also a coastal city and does a bit of sailing. We didn't
have much time here, but we got to eat their local specialty -
potstickers (with seafood inside), and wandered around a bit.  We took a
boat tour of the harbour and saw its skyline from the water.  Like a
lot of coastal city, it's boxed in by mountains.  A half an hour away
is Laoshan, the birthplace of Daoism and a 1200 m high mountain rising
right out of the sea.  The mist constantly drifts in from the water. 
The day we were there was particularly misty, so, although I made it to
the top, the view was only a few nearby peaks sticking out of the
mist.  Still beautiful, but unfortunate, since it cleared up a bit as
we descended.  One cool thing - their are several old Daoist temples as
you go up and one at the highest peak and a stream winding down the
mountain.  They use the water to grow tea and the shops on the way up
use it to refrigerate their drinks.
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