In my quest to add as many pins as possible to different countries on my Pinmapple map, I'm digging deep into my photo archives for some old travels. You'll see quite a lot of me during this particular travel because those were the days when I took more photos of myself rather than the place. This is me outside St Michael’s Cathedral in the city I'll be showing you today. Can you guess which country I'm in?
Qingdao in China
Today's trip is to a country where I won't be going again in the near future, and definitely not under the current regime. The country is China, my neighbouring country when I used to work in Hong Kong. Back in those days, China was friendlier, and often I'd hop across the border for a day out as it was a lot more affordable than Hong Kong. I've also been to other major cities in China like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu (to see the pandas), Guangzhou the largest city in the south, and Qingdao a big city on the east coast facing Korea. My post today is about Qingdao.
You may notice the image above looks very European, that's because in 1898 Qingdao was leased to the German Empire for 99 years. During this period, the Germans developed this small fishing village, investing heavily to modernise it. They built ports (the Germans needed to strengthen their navy base in Asia), railways, and German-style buildings. The whole city was thoroughly electrified, safe drinking tap water was provided, a rarity in Asia. Source Plus there was a nice waterfront for the German expats to enjoy themselves.
Many of the German style buildings still exist today giving Qingdao a unique European feel. I think it's actually quite amazing that they weren't bombed down during the two world wars especially since the German empire lost control over Qingdao in 1914. Their sovereignty here was short lived, lasting only 16 years, but the legacy last a lot longer.
Even this house, which looks like it could have been anywhere in Europe still exists. I remember I was really surprised to see one like this in Qingdao.
Tsingdao Beer
The other legacy that the Germans left behind in Qingdao is Tsingtao Beer, China's biggest exported beer and fifth largest beer producer in the world according to their website. You'll probably be ordering this if you ever go to a Chinese restaurant.
Image credit Tsingdao.com
We did a tour of the Tsingdao beer factory, but I didn't take many photos. It was an interesting tour and the first beer tour I did (since then I've done many beer and whisky distillery tours). The only decent photo I managed to find is this one I took outside. The fountain comes out from the beer bottle and glasses. It would have been really cool if beer gushes out, but it was just water!
Laoshan National Forest Park
Another place we visited during our Qingdao trip is Laoshan. This is a very big national park east of Qingdao and is famous for, amongst other things spectacular landscape. (Sorry, it's me again, it's the last one, I promise)
We took a cable car up to a particular part called Yangkou to see the many peaks and mountain. And we also got to see the coast and sea from high above. I vaguely remember taking the cable car ride as it was a long time ago, but now looking back at these photos, I don't think I'd do the ride again. The open carriages looks really dangerous!!! But at least I've been there and done it. Most important of all I've added another country to my Pinmapple map now!