Serious Travel Article 19: From Zhengzhou to Qingdao on the slow sleeper train. Part 2

This is part 2! For part 1, please click here: Qingdao Part 1 

Coco (my girlfriend) and I arrived at the station after work. Class at Zhengzhou NDI (New Dynamic Institute) finished at 8pm, the train departed at 10. With only three clear days off, we had to maximize travel time. That also meant work started an two hours after the train was due to arrive upon our return.

But that wasn't for four days. An eternity away. Since coming to China I'd been stuck at NDI, with no possibility of travel, so I was excited. The journey started the moment we set foot on the train.

The Smog of Zhengzhou.

Chaos engulfed the sleeper carriage with people jostling for position and shoving limitless baggage into limited space. Somehow everything calmed after around ten minutes after leaving Zhengzhou, the luggage was still and the passengers were busy munching. Chinese train travel is an excuse for a feast.

I asked a fellow traveler why the Chinese ate so much on train journeys. He looked surprised.

"We don't eat a lot on trains", he muttered, almost defensively.

I pointed out the ongoing banquet all around us.

"Oh, I didn't notice, it's normal."

The conversation went on. The closest I got to an answer was, "what else would you do on a train?"

Coco and I climbed up to our top bunks, high above the feast. It felt enclosed and away from the bustling carriage. We fell asleep in our gently shafting private room.

The view from the top bunk in hard sleeper class, China. Image courtesy of travel photo report. I'm using some third party images today as my two hard drives broke. At the same time! Would you bloody believe it!

I woke up an hour before we were due to arrive. I could see factories, highways and tower blocks out of the window. It was the industrial Qingdao I'd feared. Kilometers of toxic manufacturing polluting the sea and sky. And this was still far from the city proper. I felt nothing but dread.

The urban nightmare continued until just before Qingdao station. The station itself however was a cheerful colonial gift from the Germans. As it happens, central Qingdao is littered with fun and cheerful gifts from the old bugger himself, Kaiser Wilhelm II. From old European style terraced housing to a grand Neo Romanesque Cathedral. Considering the Germans only remained in Qingdao for 16 years, the legacy they left behind is remarkable.

Qingdao Railway Station, a gift from the Germans.

We made our way from the city center to our hostel, a strange little place with big white fluffy dogs, housed in an old disused observatory. It sat atop sea hill, next to a little park. As I sat and took in the view of the city I was amazed at how small the city was. According to Wikipedia, Qingdo had an urban population of almost six million. Where were they all? What lay before me wasn't the center of a world beating mega city, but a quaint, sino-germanic sea side town, with a modest cluster of skyscrapers. China has villages with more towers. Clearly the real city was off somewhere else, and that was fine by me, I was happy in the old town center, thoughtfully set aside for tourists by the city government. I had no intention of leaving this pleasant relic.

We dumped our bags in the hotel room and shot down onto the the coast road, riding the bus. From the bus, you could see the city divided into geographical quadrants, each quadrant was bordered by a seemingly impenetrable mess of forest upon steep rocky slopes. The peaks gradually building up. Higher and higher towards Laoshan, with city between each one. Our hostel was atop the smallest and first of these peaks. All these foothills made the city seem smaller, it was as if the city finished at the peak, making you feel comfortable and snug in an otherwise unfathomably gargantuan metropolis. 

Parks and forested hills compartmentalize Qingdao into manageable sections. As Coco demonstrates.

From the coastal bus, you could see the southern shore of Qingdao city was dotted with little coves, most of which sheltered a beach, with golden sands and few people. The hot sun made the blue water sparkle. With all the greenery, the German villas, blue sky and forested mountain ranges, it was easy to forget you were in industrial northern China. But this was a great day, the wind was blowing from the east, blowing away all the toxic smog back inland, leaving coastal dwellers with uninterrupted blue skies and fresh clean sea air.


The bus however was not air-conditioned, it was crowded and sweaty. Coco and I spotted a cove with a long golden beach and decided to get off and get in. Crossing the road and accessing the beach proved confusing. we resorted to the human shield tactic to cross the road but once across found ourselves in a bewildering underground concrete labyrinth. It resembled a secure secret nuclear facility, safe from enemy radar, or at least, I thought it probably did. The only difference between it and my imaginary nuclear lab was all the empty shop spaces making everything look monotonous. Only one shop was fitted out, a restaurant, serving, cheap, hearty but probably awful food. A Chinese version of one of those greasy spoons serving all day full English breakfasts on the Costa Del Sol.

The number 1 bathing beach, Qingdao

We found our way out of the the concrete maze and emerged on the beach. It was a hot Chinese April day. The blazing sun beat down hard on the beach. In the shade the temperature was 37c, but there was no shade on this beach. This being April, the sandy shore was deserted. The Chinese are stubborn, habitual people who cling to their traditional seasonal beliefs and rituals. In June, July and August the beaches are rammed because that's summer, summer is hot and that's when you go swimming at the beach. March, April and May are Spring, that's time for going to the park, climbing mountains and going sightseeing, Especially May, never travel in China around Mayday. It didn't matter that it was baking hot, April, was not an appropriate month for swimming. In fact, it's slightly more complex than I'm making out. The Chinese traditional calender is lunar, not solar, so the seasons are based on the lunar calender, for that reason I was once told I was crazy for wearing shorts in late August, as it was now Autumn and I was risking catching a cold by doing so.

Note: If you travel to northern or central China in March, the weather can be variable, it could be 35c one day and 15c the next. Clearly on a hot day, you'd dress comfortably, but prepare yourself. Everyone else will still be in hats, gloves, coats and thermals, because it's March. No matter the temperature. It's worth a trip to China just to observe.

Wrap up warm in March and April, no matter how hot it is!

Back to Qingdao:

The beach was so scorching that we threw traditional Chinese seasonal caution to the wind and sploshed into the sea. It was cool and refreshing on a hot day. Coco and I spent the next few hours bobbing on the wavelets and enjoying being.

Coco in the Sea in Qingdao.

As the sun stepped off its midday podium, we regrew our land legs and headed back to the old town center to explore. We headed down from our little hill, down steep narrow alleyways which reminded me of those in Kefalonia and past the exceedingly Germanic looking St Michael's Cathedral which sits at the edge of the old town center and onto Zhongshan Lu. In Xiamen, Zhongshan Lu  is an impressive monument to the bloodsport of shopping. In Qingdao, it is not. Zhongshan Lu is just winding land, sided by tourist tat outlets and the same generic brands you might find down any other street in China. Not worth visiting but the the rows of old terraced housing adjacent to Zhongshan Lu that could make an old Brit a little homesick.

Beyond Zhongshan Lu are a series of alleyways and piazzas dedicated to seafood. Stalls, cafes, restaurants and funny old traders sold a whopping variety of dead, and soon to be dead, marine life. As Coco fulfilled her wildest, most indulgent seafood desires, I grabbed a whirly ice cream and a large fries from the McDonald's and met Coco back in seafood land. Coco told me the seafood wasn't that great, it looked better than it tasted. I was just happy dipping my extra salty fried in my whirly plain vanilla ice cream. (I dare you to try it).

A strange German Tower at the top of an Alleyway in Central Qingdao

After dinner we ambled down to the waterfront, drinking a Tsingtao (Romanised Mandarin for Qingdao) (Thank god for Pinyin!) along the way. Another one of Germany's little presents for Qingdao was the Germania Brewery which later became known as Tsingtao. No wonder Chinese lager tastes so good, they learned from the Germans!

(Rant: Please Ignore)
I wont be happy until Carling, Carlsberg, Budwiser, Stella Artois, Fosters and all those other rubbish mass produced cheap lager companies are bankrupted by Tsingtao, Snow, Harbin, NAALE, Cheerday and Kingstar. The Chinese know a thing or two on how to mass produce cheap beer and keep it tasting good.
(Rant over: Thank you for Ignoring)

We sat down on the promenade and looked out at the dark horizon, and the twinkling lights of ships shifting across the black ocean. Then we noticed something odd. Every two or three minutes a herd of tourists would rush past as the followed a tour guide with a certain coloured flag. The tourists would all have matching hats the same colour as the flag. We say blue groups, red, green, purple, yellow and pink. They seemed tired and were always in a hurry. We asked one lady where she was from and how long they were staying in Qingdao.

Qingdao at night

She said she was in Qingdao for only one day, then onto Yantai, Weihai, Weifang and Jinan before being transported back to Sichuan with the rest of her coach tour. It sounded exhausting, all that sightseeing. You'd probably need a holiday after all that. She wasn't amused when I said that.

Before we knew it, our time in Qingdao was at an end, we piled back on the chaotic train and this time took food for the banquet. Cherries, lychees, red bean pancakes and crisps. We left Qingdao refreshed despite only being there for three days, my only regret is that we didn't have time to climb Laoshan.

Despite my prejudice, I enjoyed my time in Qingdao and want to return one day. Don't be put off by the colossal metropolis. Qingdao is the perfect Chinese beach break, just not in the summer.

For Part 1: Click Here: Zhengzhou to Qingdao on the Slow Sleeper train Part 1