Beijing to Qingdao – 26 March

The transfer from Beijing Capital International Airport to Qingdao Liuting International Airport went like clockwork.  Our luggage was slightly over the maximum allowable, but it didn’t raise any eyebrows.  Go and Ju from Xiaohong’s group picked us up and treated us to lunch before we checked in at the Blue Horizon Hotel. 

Qingdao and area has a population of about 13mil and is sandwiched between the Yellow Sea and a range of mountains and is a popular summer vacation location due to the fantastic beaches.  Like Beijing, there were construction projects everywhere so this is another growing city.

We were treated to a hotpot dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants in a private room.  This was a remarkable experience where we had the opportunity to select the ingredients for our hotpot.  We chose squid, shrimp, clams, red scallops, beef, veggies, and such to cook in a broth in our individual hotpots.  The interesting thing was that the seafood was still live and wiggling around when delivered to our table in serving dishes which were placed on the lazy Susan.  But when in Qingdao, do like Qingdao-ians!  So we selected the live delicacies and dropped them into the boiling broth.  After the first couple of times, it’s not so bad.  However, yes there is always a however… one of the squid I selected sprayed its ink all over my plate and I just couldn’t eat the poor creature who so desperately defended itself against my advances to the hotpot.  It really gets you thinking about where your protein comes from and that snowballs into the question about plants and sentience.  Despite this graphic description, dinner was quite delicious!

Chinese universities provide generous and wonderful hospitality.  Visitors are well taken care of in all aspects of the visit.