Beer capital of China...

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  Qingdao, China
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

This is an excerpt from a conversation held a few weeks ago:

Me: So you're sure that by issuing another card it won't affect the use of my current card?
Westpac Service Provider 1: yep. totally sure. i'll issue another card and your current card can still be used right up until it expires in June.
Me: Brilliant. Thanks for that.

This is an excerpt from a conversation held a few days ago:

Me: Can you please explain to me why my card is no longer working?
Westpac Service Provider 2: It seems that when the card was re-issued, it was set to expire in 2 weeks. Therefore, it's already expired.
Me: But I was advised that the card would not expire and that I would be able to continue to use it.
Westpac Service Provider 2: I'm sorry but there's no way to resurrect an expired card.
Me: Well, I hope you understand that, due to some error by Westpac, I am without any source of money for the next 10 days etc etc etc

Anyway, to cut a very very very long story short, following repeated indications from the Bank of China that my credit card was being rejected and then a meeting with a manager of HSBC on the 8th Floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, I managed to get a cash advance on my credit card. So, having dealt with this dilemma, which would have had me eating bread and sitting around for the next 10 days, I was all cashed up. Imagine if I had no money in the beer capital of china...

So, anyway, it's official. The saxophone is still cool in China.

A self portrait

I was in a club the other night - a normal club with random kinda doof doof - when all of a sudden a solo saxophonist dude comes and starts playing to a doof doof back track. And the crowd was loving it. He was loving it. And he was prancing around like he was some kind of rock start with a saxophone between his legs. Random. Anyway, I think it goes someway to explaining the love of Kenny G and Keey G like music everywhere I go. It remains the most disturbing thing about China to date.

Qingdao. I don't quite know what to make of it. It's modern - very modern - almost like Singapore in its waterfront areas and business district. You can almost smell the foreign investment oozing from the major busines district (although I'm not sure whether that's just the smell of McDonalds fries wafting across the street). But, at the same time, as you look down from Zhongshan and Longshan (mountains equally as formidable as their Perth counterparts LawleyShan and PleasantShan) to the old city, the town somewhat resembles Berlin, with the old German architecture, streetscape, foggy gloom and the towering Alexanderplatz type structure in the distance.

Qingdao is famous for 2 things (it's probably famous for more than 2 but, for the purpose of this blog, it is famous for 2 things):
1. its beaches; and
2. its beer.

Let's start with the beaches. I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Beaches? Average. crusty, shelly sand and flat calm water. Despite this, they pack out in the summer.

So, to the beer.

CBD from the TV Tower

Well, you'll all be glad to know that I got that cold full strength beer I was looking for. But, apart from the fact that you can go to the brewery where they brew Tsingtao beer and that you can buy beer in bags off street stalls, there really isn't a greater beer culture here than anywhere else in China. But I know what you're thinking... Beer in bags? Brilliant. I'm still amused by the fact that, when the Germans settled in Qingdao, the first thing they did was build a brewery. Beer? brilliant...

For me, Qingdao has been strolling through beautiful parks and hills, seeing underwater creatures (i'm a sucker for aquariums) a successful shopping expedition where I puchased my 'classic jazz stars' (which surprisingly, and perhaps intentionally, resemble Converse allstars), a yacht called westernaustralia.com docked in Qingdao harbour, walks with Billy Bragg along the blustery and dramatic coastline and the normal singing in the street (which the locals just seem to ignore). Indeed, it has been very memorable. But it really is a different kind of China - modern fused with the colonial - to that that I have experienced thus far.

So, to the Top 5. The topic for this entry is "Top 5 stupid comments overheard being said by foreigners so far in China":

5. "I couldn't find the Bell Tower" - random englishman, in relation to the enormous bell tower located at the point where the 4 most significant roads in Xian meet.

4. "It's great because McDonald's here is so cheap I can eat it all the time" - American.

3. "Do you come here often?" - South African to a chinese girl in a bar who responds with 'huh?'

2. "They looked good in the picture" - englishman, in relation to chicken's feet which he thought was beef. Yes Hannah, this actually did happen...

1. "Eee Pee-jyo" - Chinese-Indonesian-Australian, in nightclub asking a complete random, who appeared to be abartender, for a beer.

Tomorrow's my birthday (11 April) so I expect an enormous incoming of well wishes. Heading to Beijing for couple of days before going to Korea.

Do it...

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Contemplating Life No 7	Fishing on the Harbour	German Architecture	Highrises
Highrises 2	Markets By Night 1	Markets By Night 2	Modern Qingdao 1
Pavillons by the water	Qingdao City Art	Qingdao TV Tower	St Michaels Catholic Church
Taidong Shopping District	The Beach 1	The Beach 2	The Beach 3
The Old Clock Tower	The Seaside 1	The Seaside 2	Underwater World
westernaustralia.com	Yachts in the harbour	Zhan Qiao Bridge	Zhan Qiao Pavillon
Zhongshan Park 1	Zhongshan Park 2	Zhongshan Park 3	Zhongshan Park 4

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