Unlike Xi'an, Qingdao did not leave the best impression on me. It did not help that it was cold and rained every day so I could not go to the beach, but also the city just seemed dead. Qingdao reminded me a lot of Norfolk, VA. It is a small city with a large Naval base with varying weather. The best part of Qingdao by far was the tour of the Qingdao Brewery and Beer Museum.
Qingdao was under German occupation for the early part of the 20th century, up until the start of WWII when the Japanese claimed occupation. In 1903 the Qingdao brewery was established by the Germans and hence "Tsing Tao" Beer was born. The "T" spelling is the English pronunciation system and has stuck with the beer since its birth. You will actually find this beer in the states as it is the 6th largest beer company in the world and accounts for over 85% of China's beer exports. In China, this is my beer of choice and getting to go to the brewery was a neat experience. tried their dark beer, dry beer, and green beer. I was disappointed when I found out the green beer was not actually green, but instead environmentally friendly produced.
The brew house was on beer street which featured bar/restaurants with kegs of Tsing Tao and good German cuisine. Qingdao did not feel like China. Along with the Beer Museum, Qingdao also has the PLA Navy Museum and I got to see the origins of the PLAN and I went on some CCCP and CPC made destroyers and subs. I also bought a CCCP Soviet Russian knife for this summer when I have Marine Corps training.
I also found a great bar called New York Bar which played live music all night. The band was Indonesian and they played covers of all hits like Queen, Guns and Roses, The Who, and even current top 20 songs. They invited people to sing and dance and it was a really fun time. They actually played "Careless Whisper" by George Michael and one band member grabbed a sax and started playing the famous solo from the song. I started singing along and they saw that I was so they asked me to come up and the lead singer and I sang the song. It was pretty funny getting up on a little stage in a smokey bar in China, and was something I would probably not do in the US. After I sat back down a few Chinese people came up to me and told me I look like George Michale with my long blond hair...after that comment I decide I am buzzing my head. There is no way I will be mistaken with George Michael again.
All in all Qingdao was an OK city with decent food and unimpressive seafood dishes for a port town. I enjoyed my time there but would not go back.
Now this is the start of my last week in China and I will be coming home on Saturday. It has been an adventure, but I am ready to get back to normal school and normal life.
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Jordan J. Foley
傅力波
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