Qingdao

August 23rd

Forgot to mention yesterday that we got some parting gifts yesterday from Beijing Olympic Broadcasting" … a “diploma” – which has a typo in my name – Nicole marie Trimner – okay – it’s only a small ‘m’ on my middle name – but annoys me!

We also got another backpack – that makes 2. This one is much nicer though as it is black. Our other one matches our polo shirts – so it is bright blue & orange. This one I might actually use!

In addition, we got a medal. To be honest, I haven’t really checked it out, but it is in a box and seems pretty cool.

So today, Billy, Alex, Christina and I had arranged for a driver and guide to take us to Loshan Mountain.

We set it up last night thru the hotel. We were told it we would have a guide who spoke “okay English” – which was fine with us because most everyone in China that speaks English, tells us they speak “okay English” and it honestly is pretty good.

So we met at 10:30…. The first thing the guide said to us (in perfect English), “do you speak Chinese?” When we said, “no”, she said “sowwy, my English not good”.

We were only paying 600 yuan to have this guide and driver and mini-van for as long as we wanted – so still an excellent deal! (like $20 USD each).

Within 2 minutes of being in the van, we knew were in trouble. We had no idea what she was saying, so as she would tell us facts, we would each guess what she was saying, and essentially made stuff up. She knew very little English and didn’t understand ANY English.

It was about an hour drive to the mountain. Along the way, saw amazing sites!
(but there were always power lines in the shot of the photos!)

It was after passing these boats that we realized that the driver understood English better than the guide. I made the comment, “bet those boats don’t have GPS” and the driver burst into laughter.

We stopped at some place – we think she said it was the ‘first mountain after the sea’ – which it was… but it looked very fake and touristy.

Across the street, there were more real views

Alex told me the toilet were clean here, so I gave it a shot.
Agh! Apparently the men’s room was much cleaner than the ladies room! Chinese toilets, no TP.

Next we stopped at another tourist trap. A rip line over the ocean.
Alex, Billy and I went for it. It involved getting in another van that was ancient and scary, driving up the side of the mountain, climbing scary stairs and the operators spoke zero English. We tried to motion that since there were 3 of us and 3 lines, we wanted to go together. That didn’t happen. So we tried to tell them that I wanted to go second. Nope, they tethered me up first and had me hanging there for 10 minutes or so. Wasn’t exactly comfortable.

So apparently, they allow locals to go down by themselves, but foreigners have to go down with an operator who hangs on to you the whole time – which totally ruins it! He lets go just before the end.

While I was waiting for Alex & Billy to come down, some lady came up to me and asked how much my Nike’s were – I think I paid $50 for them, so I told her 350 yuan and she walked away. It then hit me, I wasn’t sure if she wanted to know how much I paid or how much I would sell them for ? If I had something else to put on, I would of given them to her. They are covered with pee anyway (from squatting in Chinese toilets) – there is a good chance they are going in the trash when I get home! Just one more reminder of how spoiled I am – I can buy Nike’s at Kohls without batting an eye.

Next we went to the _____ Temple. (I forget the name and the ticket stub is in Chinese)

This is Goddess Songzi – which means “child-giving Goddess” - Ladies who are hoping to have a child, come to this Goddess to pray.


Of course this ancient tree produced many laughs…. The guide was quick to tell us about the pinus bungeana tree (pronounced ‘penis’).

It is used for herbal remedies, but not the kind you are thinking… it helps with diabetes.

More cools sites at the temple… honestly, I am getting sick of them.



So after the temple, we wanted to go up on the mountain. We had been told by others on the crew that there is an awesome ski lift down the side of the mountain. When we tried to explain this to “Nancy” (our name for our guide) – she tells us “no road”.
Hmmm that’s strange… isn’t that a van on that road right now?
“No, no road”
The miming and slow speaking went on another 5 minutes and then we all gave up.

On our ride back, “Nacny” told us she was taking us to Sea World. Ummm, ok. We assumed she meant “Ocean World” – a tourist trap/aquarium we had seen on the way up.

Halfway there, the driver, “Sid” (our name for him) pulls off to the side of the road and “Nancy” tells us to get out and eat – that Sid is hungry. We refused.

It was pretty much at this point where we were done with this language barrier and wanted to go home.

We came to an agreement to eat at “Sea World” because there was a KFC there. Over the next 20 minutes or so, I tell the others that I think I will sit at the gates of “Sea World” because I have zero interest. I am opposed to animals in captivity and I don’t want to support a company/country that I am sure is harboring these animals in the worst possible conditions. It’s is just not something I care to see or give my money to.

It was then that it was agreed that no one really wanted to go. We decided we would have them take us there to eat and then leave.

As soon as we get on the grounds – “Nancy” is trying to collect 120yuan each. We said, “No! Eat first!”. This went on for easily 5 minutes before she gave up on us giving her the admission to “Ocean World”. They eventually dropped us at the KFC which was a nuthouse. We eventually all get seated. I rip my chicken sandwich in half… OH MY GOD! What was this? In the U.S. a chicken sandwich would slightly resemble chicken breast. Not this! It was parts… not even dark meat – just parts and gristle and parts. Thank god I had not been brave and bitten into it – it was of resulted in admitting me to a psychiatric ward. Bottom line, I had no lunch.

After KFC… we break the news to “Nancy” that we don’t want to go to “Ocean World” – we want to go back to the hotel, however, we want to stop by the “Goddess of the Sea” statue.

Which of course was greeted with confusion. When we pointed it on a map, we were once again told “no road”.

That’s strange… we are at the intersection of the entrance and cars are pulling into it.

Yup, we were done.

Had a few hours to ourselves at the hotel.

I checked the logistics table…. That’s strange,…. I am listed on the 7:30a shuttle to the airport for tomorrow. Hmmmm that’s 24 hours early?

Met up at 7:30 to go to dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse. Many on the crew had already been there – supposed to be the best steal I town…. 118 yuan ($17.50 USD). It’s all you can eat of about 100 things on the menu. Much like Benihana.. They chefs cook it right there in front of you.

Almost everything was seafood – but when the rice, veggies and sirloin came around, Billy made sure my plate got filled up!

Thank god, cuz Billy wanted me to keep drinking hot Sake. It’s tasty – but yowza! Ya gotta eat with that stuff!

Afterwards, we all met back at the hotel for our goodbyes.
Here is us……

Ben (LA) * Nic (OH-IO) * Billy (LA) * Christina (Greece) * Alex (Italy)

After this photo, we rode up in the elevator and had our last group hug.

I work with a new crew almost every week. I bond with so many people.
I think this was the hardest goodbye to date.