Dazed and Confuzed

Chinese People Love Me
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

I got back from my vacation four weeks ago come Thursday. I'm embarrassed it took me this long to get it all typed out, but this month has been ridiculous. It began with losing sleep, as the sun comes up now around 330 and floods right into my room. I was just recently able to get decent curtains and to catch up on my sleep. I had a cold for a bit, well, at least a very very sore throat. A teacher we prospectively hired was fired before he taught a single class. Another teacher decided to sign on for another 6 months. I bought a cell phone, picked a bad number that resulted in dozens of unwanted calls a day, bought a new number. Immediately after buying a cell phone I found myself swept up into a more social environment and putzing around quite a bit more. I've started searching for a Chinese teacher for private lessons. And last night I watched "Yellow Submarine."

Today is the first day I've felt like I'm returned to the calm since before vacation. So I'm using it to rest up, recoop, and get back in touch with people.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled ramblings.

Day 7 & 8: Bring It On Home

Sunrise at TaiShan
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

At four AM I arose, all alone, huddled in the corner of my palacious 3-bed room. I even had a TV and tea set.

Outside my door... christ all mighty.

The corridors of the hotel were lined with people sleeping foot to head, another dozen was in the bathroom, and the dining had been converted into one giant bunker. Cautiously stepping between bodies, I eventually made my way outside where the situation was even worse. Hundreds more people were asleep on the ground, huddles against shop fronts, and a few, again, in the bathrooms. And more were ambling up the front steps of the little village.

Thosuands. Thousands of Chinese tourists. I honestly believe I have never seen so many people in so small a place before.

Oh yeah. And they were all wearing the standard PLA issue Private's jacket for warmth.

Picture yourself in a rising sea of PLA green on top of a mountain at 4 in the morning.

That alone was worth waking up for.

The sunrise itself was cool, nothing spectacular, but cool. Watching the shadows spread across an entire kingdom calms your nerves and lets you forget about the fact that China has the largest standing army in the world for a few moments. But the crowds made for some tough viewing, which was the only drawback.

After a nap, I packed and began bounding down the mountain. I was in a great mood. I had accomplished everything I wanted to on this vacation, all be myself. In China. With Chinese. All I had to do now was get home.

The bus from TaiAn to JiNan was nothing spectacular, but pulling into JiNan for the second time, I still wasn't impressed. Quickly found a hotel room, perhaps the nicest and best priced room of the entire trip. Most importantly, it had a shower. I hadn't showered since QingDao (Day4) as my rooms and QuFu and TaiShan were devoid of showers or baths.

The shower became the most important element of the JiNan story, because JiNan is a dirty, sweaty, boring city. JiNan is the capital of ShanDong province, but QingDao gets all the attention and JiNan is left as a shell that people hate to deal with but always have to. Like Albany. But sweatier. Much sweatier.

I took a walk around the city and found nothing interesting. JiNan was famous for its springs, so I visited one and found it run dry. I guess this was typical, and had been for years. So I watched some kite flying then found some food. Went home, showered, watched a few hours of TV and read, showered again, slept, woke up, showered, and hopped the bus to the airport.

Notice how much I had to shower in JiNan.

Checked in, found my gate burried in the belly of the airport, sat down, boarded the plane, waited on the tarmac, got recalled, exited the plane, returned to the gate.

Waited. Waited. It was a connecting flight, going from JiNan to DaLian to Harbin, and then it became a direct flight to Harbin. Reboarded, 5 passengers on the entire plane. One was an old man who must have NEVER been on an airplane before. He kept getting surprised when the stewardess brought him food. "Oh, I don't want to buy any... its free?... heeheeheehee!" And when he found the bathroom, he almost fell down. Plus he kept spitting on the floor.

And then I was home.

Day 7: Stairway to Heaven

The 18 Corners... for me to poop on!
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

(My mother has mentioned she had trouble viewing my Shutterfly album, if anyone else has, as I have not, please email to let me know. The pictures should be available at http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTdu2ctmrDBA)

TaiShan was the last real stop on my adventure, and to be truthful, it was the draw for the entire expedition. TaiShan was to be the centerpiece for the trip, the whole reason I came to ShanDong in the first place. QingDao and QuFu were just lucky byproducts of convenience and a lucky class schedule.

Getting to TaiAn, the city at the base of TaiShan ("Shan" is Chinese for "mountain") was a cakewalk, especially by this point. Waking up in QuFu, I took the short walk to the bus depot, jumped on the bus marked "TaiAn," paid my fare, and 1.5 hours later I was there. A cheap cab ride later and I was at the foot of the monster.

TaiShan is not the tallest mountain in China, not by far. But don't get me wrong, it was quite large. However, the slope was gentle and well forested, so it lacked that awe that one might find in the Rockies or other mountains that I have not seen. It was very Appalachian in that regard.

But TaiShan is the holiest mountain in China. To explain, let me paraphrase the Chinese creation myth: In the beginning, there was nothing but everything, but everything was everything, there was no distinction. The god PanGu decided there must be order, and set about seperating the heavens from the earth. Stretching his body, pushing the earth down with his feet and lifting the heavens high with his arms, PanGu seperated the entities and created the universe as we now know it. At the conclusion of his effort, thoroughly exhausted, PanGu fell apart, his four limbs and head scattering about China. Each piece became a different mountain, the head becoming TaiShan, the holiest mountain in China.

The Chinese believe that anyone who can climb TaiShan will live 100 years. And only a true emperor can make the climb, otherwise he will be blown off by the wind of god. What this boiled down to for me, a solo Bill traveling during one of the 3 national holidays in China, was a mountain swarming (packed) with Chinese tourists hoping to reconnect with thier own spirituality and history while taking ungodly amounts of pictures of rocks and plaques.

The climb began easy enough, with the requisite gates and small village. I should say that when I purchased my ticket I took advantage of my knowledge of Chinese and the Chinese lack of English where I got a discounted ticket claiming to be a student. When they asked for my student ID, I gave them my Virginia driver's license telling them that "Virginia" was my school's name and "drivers license" meant "student ID."

The path at the bottom of the mountain was laden with stalls selling crap of all kinds. More than anything else were these red headbands that ended up tied to lots of trees later in the climb. I, of course, bought some.

Beside the hawkers, there was a temple or two, which I, of course, checked out. I'm a temple-holic. In one there was a pool with a stone lotus flower at it's center. People were trying to throw coins into the center of the bud. Feeling lucky, I pulled out a 1 Yuan piece, and taking that silly Beirut stance that Henle 7 loved to mock let the disc fly, plunking dead center. The Chinese all stopped and went silent, then actually began clapping. I smiled, bowed, made a remark about coordination, and walked away reminiscing about the colors of a varsity athlete.

By the way, I looked ridiculous throughout this entire climb. My Chinese staff told me the mountain got very cold, so I wore my jeans. But it was less cold and more scorching, so my pants were rolled up to my knees. On my back was my large pack, easily the largest on the mountain. But the kicker was my head, which remember, was sunburning rather badly. Having no lucky at finding a proper hat, I had taken a tshirt and fabricated a cheap turban. If you can picture this sight, you'll be laughing.

Going up the mountain brought me past monuments to the people, to emperors, and to history. Plus performing monkeys. "The Gate of Middle Peace," "The Wonderous 3 Li Walk," and many other sillily-translated sights. Plus performing monkeys. A few tea houses (I took a break in one such tea house where some people recognized me from QuFu! I'm a celebrity!), a lot of chinese barbeque, and ubiquitous fruit on a stick stands. Did I mention the monkeys?

There were dozens of significant items that I walked by, too many to adequately describe here. But I'm learning how to make DVDs, complete with audio tracks (like director's commentary!) so I'll bundle all that useless trivia with those.

I will say that TaiShan was an excellent example of the butterfly effect in action. If people stopped to take a picture, you could see the ripple coming down the slope of people suddenly being forced to stop short. And if one person stopped to take a picture, it would inevitably inspire another 3 to take the same picture, who would each then inspire another three, and so on and so forth.

The toughest part of the climb was the last 1,600 steps, known as "The Path of 18 Corners." I know all this because there was a little plaque commemorating the spot, a tiny little obscure insignificant bronze plaque that every Chinese had to have a picture with. Anyways, its the steepest part of the climb, and again, the last, so I was pretty tired by the time I arrived. Most people were strugling themselves by this point, I even saw two men carrying their elderly mother on a plank up to the summit. Luckily I didn't have my mother with me to carry (though, of course, she is missed) so I cranked up Bill Conti's "Rocky" soundtrack and launched the final attack.

Passing the the South Gate of Heaven, the final gate that gave entrance to the summit, I was pretty happy. My legs were happier. First job was to find a place to sleep, especially since I had been told that record numbers of Chinese were climbing the mountain that week. Being a foreigner means you can never get the cheapest accomodations in a hotel: they just dont trust you. But as the cheapest accomodations are usually dorm rooms with half a dozen people crammed inside, I usually don't mind. But since the beds are limited on the top of TaiShan, they really cranked the rates that week. But there was nothing I could do but swallow, as i was not going to sleep outside on the ground.

The summit holds a village, which is quite honestly very modern but as they have kept the architecture in a traditional vein it still feels like a mountaintop community from some pulp fantasy. Plus there were a good numbers of temples: one where I got tricked into donating 10 RMB for somebody's eternal peace (dunno who or how or why) and another where MONKS PLAY PINGPONG. They even had a YinYang on their table, just like we had a "G" on the table back at 4525.

The summit held some spectacular views, especially one overlooking the entire kingdom of Lu (KongZi's home kingdom). Once the sun set, you could see the cities of TaiAn and JiNan light up. I spent the sunset on the moon summit trying to do some writing, but soon enough attracted a large crowd of Chinese. A small handful were PLA soldiers who were shocked at the fact I was wearing shorts. They made a comment that "Americans are very warm blooded. We Chinese are cold-blooded people." Again, these were PLA soldiers.

Anyways, soon enough a decently large crowd had circled around me, largely due to that I was speaking Chinese, yet again. So I started to tell them stories, either about me, the US, teaching in Harbin, or whatever. But, again, my Chinese is still far from perfect, so sometimes I needed to improvise some method to express myself. Soon enough, as I droned on and the audience "oohed" and "awwwed," I realized that I was basically living that scene from "Return of the Jedi" where C3PO tells the Ewoks his account of the rebel's adventures. So the Chinese are akin to cute, furry little animals. But I am not a slightly homosexual British robot. But I am their god.

As it is known to do, the sun eventually went down, I grabbed some food, and went to sleep. Sunrise was at 5 AM, but the advice was to wake up at 4 AM to find a good viewing spot. Plus, that bed looked pretty good after that climb.

Day 5: Houses of the Holy

Confucious Forest
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

(To view all the pictures, please visit http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTdu2ctmrDBA. There are a lot, but its worth your time, methinks.)

QuFu: very different from QingDao. Waking up within the walls of the old city, I strolled out to the ticket booth early in the morn, hoping to get a little time in the Confucious complex before it was hoarded by local tourists.

That didn't really happen.

The Chinese have a different attitude towards sight seeing than my own. I usually take things at my own pace, poking around in anything I find interesting, rushing past crowds or anything I find blase. Since I find everything in China to be rather interesting for some reason or another, I tend to take my time. But the Chinese tours concentrate on seeing only the important stuff and seeing it as fast as possible. I spent from 8 AM till 3:30 PM in the Confucious complex, I swear that some of these tours cover it all in an hour. Of course they miss out on the side detours and small details I love to get lost in, but thats me and I'm not Chinese.

Anyways, after getting my ticket I entered KongMiao (Confucious Temple). The structure was erected (obviously) long after KongZi (Confucious' real name, which I will use from here on out) by his family, disciples, and fans. A number of gates lead one into the larger structure, the most important being inscribed with pastel blue calligraphy detailing a lesson of KongZi's describing the inevitable interdependency and concentricness (is that a word? ) of the universe. The gates open up into a large courtyard full of cyprus trees and populated with cranes (I think, I'm no ornithologist).

Eventually the trees clear, revealing a good numbers of pagodas and stone carvings. Many of the statues are of bixi, one of the nine dragons who lives at the bottom of the sea eating treasure. For some reason, he has been cursed to bear the load of wisdom, identified by the massive stone stele adheared upon his back.

The first really large structure is the Great Pavillion of the Constellation of Scholars, which is basically a library. Adorning the walls are the various stories of KongZi, all illustrated, most dating back quite a while. It is also the hotspot to hawk KongZi texts, and the only place I've seen a book available in English, which means that I picked it up, of course. And with great luck too! Let me explain:

In high school my Chinese name was "BiEr," basically "Bill" being attempted by someone with a stereotypical Chinese accent. My college professors, who otherwise sucked, decided I needed something a little more appropos. As such, "William [CENSORED]" (or "[CENSORED] William") became "Meng WeiLi." "WeiLi" means "great power," which I always thought cool, but my dictionary translated "Meng" as "rash" or "impetuous." It was here in QuFu that I finally realized that your family name has absolutely no meaning whatsover, let it be the character for "fertility" or "cow dung." This realization came from the discovery of KongZi's (Confucious') chief disciple, the man who really turned China on to KongZi's crazy ways, was named MengZi (Mencius), the very same "Meng" that "[CENSORED]" had translated into. And in that, we learn that "Meng" is a rather illustrious family name to have in China.

After the Great Pavillion, I putzed around the sides of the complex for a short bit, finding a cool little altar that was barricaded off from the public. Sticking my camera through a crack in the rotting wooden door, I caught a snap of the idol complete with a bird in flight. I like that picture quite a bit, you know where to find it.

The next major stop was DaCheng Hall. The most interesting thing here were the pillars outside the building proper. Exceptionally carved, these pillars were more ornate than those in the Forbidden City (aka the Emperor's Palace). Always worried about insulting the Emperor, whenever the big dog came to visit the QuFu locals had to cover the pillars in silk so that the Emperor would never suspect he was being outdone on his own turf. Again, check out the pictures.

The temple culminated in... er... the temple. By now the crowds were getting a little ridiculous, and I was becoming nervous towards what sort of situation I'd find myself in touring the mansion.

Regardless, transitioning from the temple to the mansion took me past the Wall of Lu. "Lu" was the ancient kingdom of which KongZi was the govenor. The wall is reknowned due that back sometime I think around 200BC the Emperor decided the cult of KongZi was undermining his own authority, so he ordered an raid and destruction of the compound. One disciple was quick enough to stash the original texts in this here wall, where they remained hidden for 100 - 150 years, and were then only found accidentally. Had the texts been destroyed, or had they never been recovered, we would never know that man who go sleep with itchy butt wake with sticky fingers.

The mansion, which was adjacent to the temple, was cool, but christ was it crowded. The highlights were the armory, the "KongZi slept here" bed, and the garden in the rear. Also all the paintings of KongZi, all of which seem to depict him as a towering badass. Serisouly, this KongZi seemed to have a real chip on his shoulder... with a vengeance.

Totally aside from the culture of the area, I met some cool Canadians from ChangChun, the capital of JiLin province and a relatively short train ride south from Harbin. Rob and Stephy taught at JiLin University and were basically doing the same trip that I was doing that week, just in reverse. I guess they had seen me the night before at the street market talking with the various Chinese people, but it was just a chance meeting in the crowds of the mansion that led the three of us to hang out for the rest of the day.

After getting out of the mansion, the last stop of the KongZi complex was the forest/cemetary. About 1.5 kms from the city center, we hiked down the road in the blaze of the midday sun. Again, I didn't have a hat, though not for lack of trying. I think this is when my skin really went over the edge and I got the burn that I so wanted to avoid.

Side note: On the road leading to the cemetary/forest, there must have been no fewer than 15 barbers/hair stylists, yet only 3 eateries. It reminded me of the wig district of Alexandria, or the hammock district of Cypress Creek.

The forest was a great cap to the afternoon. We started off by visiting the resting place of Big Kong, which is nothing but a large bump in the ground. His gravestone was erected long after his death. Even better was the shack next to the mound, a shack with the inscription: "After KongZi died, many of his disciples waited by his grave for three years, partly in mouring, partly in hope of his resurrection, partly to protect the site. One such disciple stayed until his death, sleeping nightly on the ground adjacent to his master. This house was built for that disciple 1200 years later." Cart? Horse? China?

Taking in KongZi's grave only required a few short minutes, but there was still a ton to take in in that forest. And seeing absolutely no Chinese people spending anytime on this superfluous material, we decided we couldn't miss out. Taking a path that looped all around the forest, we found space, quiet, tranquility, and hundreds of stone steles, sculptures, and green like we had never seen in the northeast of China. I can't really transcribe how great this was, but it was one of the more pleasant moments of the entire vacation: away from the crowds, getting to know some new native-English-speaking friends, enjoying a change of scene.

After the forest, Rob and Stephy still had to check out the temple, so I took a short nap and picked up some souveneirs, including the essential jade chop (stamp with my name on it). The top of my chop is, you guessed it, KongZi.

Soon enough I met back up with the Canadia duo, and we attracted the friendship of a local college student named Kevin, who introduced himself as "I'm Kevin, like Kevin from Home Alone 3!" This almost sent me into hysterics, but luckly I contained myself. I'll get more into this whole issue in another post.

Anyways, the four of us had dinner together where I ate my first, and probably last turtle. It was pretty funny watching the chef trying to cut the turtle's head off, as the little guy kept pulling it back in his shell before the blade fell. However, when I got it, I found the meat stringy and overly bony and the broth rather weak. I made most of my dinner from the carmelized pineapple and beer we had ordered.

All said and done for QuFu, it was back to my hotel to rest as much as I could. TaiShan, with its 6,660 steps, lay in the plans for Day 6.

Day 4: Ramble On

Pillar at Confucious Temple
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

(To view all the pictures from my journey, please visit http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTdu2ctmrDBA)

Leaving QingDao was a little sad, as I had really enjoyed myself there. The experience was just so different from what I had been seeing up in Harbin, what with the ocean and the weather and the food, I wanted a little more time. Plus I wasn't looking forward to a day spent on a crowded bus. But I had made a plan, and to diverge from that plan would be a failure in my Clark Griswold-esque mind, so it was time to move on.

The bus station was a scene. THe buses are all government run, and supposedly scheduled, but the individual drivers and ticket takers seem to fight over passengers and fares. Combine this with my confusion: According to my schedule, a bus ran from QuFu (my next destination) to QingDao almost hourly. As such, I assumed that the return route would exist as well. Not the case. Turns out I had to first bus to JiNan, then jump another down to QuFu. This added about 2 hours to my expected travel plans, and a little bit more cash, but it was still much cheaper than the train, which was still only one hour faster.

Getting on the bus, I grabbed a seat by a window and settled in for a long haul. Soon enough all the real seats were taken and so we set off. But even though all the proper seats were gone, we apparently were not full. I couldn't decipher any rhyme or reason to it, but occasionally we'd stop and pick up people along the side of the road. Then a plank would be lain across the aisle of the bus, and voila! Another seat, another 45 RMB.

Nothing special happened between QingDao and JiNan. The scenery was boring... I was quite disappointed. I wanted mountains, all I got was endless planes with the same tree lining the road as a wind break. Occasionally a little hutong might pop up (a small, clustered village where all the buildings are cramped together and alleyed), odd amongst the seemingly endless space.

JiNan, well, my first impression at least, was a humid, dirty, dust-ridden city. I bought a ticket for QuFu, got out of the heat and into a bus ASAP, and again settled in for a ride.

This second bus was equipped with a TV, so I was able to take in a movie called "Forbidden City Cop" that was pretty funny. Its an earlier work by the same guy behind the recent "KungFu Hustle," which you might want to check out. We also watched "Top Dog," the Chuck Norris/Dog opus, where Chuck, reluctantly paired with a canine partner, takes on a white power syndicate. Watching a movie on a cramped bus where the characters are screaming "White Power!" and "Death to the Chinks!" was... unnerving.

I also met another new friend on this ride. This girl, without reason, bought me a Pepsi (warm, ugh) and later plunked down in the seat next to me. After a while she started talking to me, in English, and I replied in Chinese, and then she wouldn't shut up. Turns out she was a college student going to QuFu to visit her boyfriend's friends but she was also an English major and wanted to practice with a native speaker.

Oh, yeah, her name was Bobo.

Once we got to QuFu, Bobo insisted that I let her help me find lodging. We went to the hotel I had planned on staying at, but they had jacked their prices up by triple the regular rate due to the holiday. So then Bobo found a touter who was hawking her family owned spot right inside the old city walls, so we checked it out, and it was fine enough for the price. At that point I said goodbye to Bobo and hello to a short nap.

After the rest, I took a stroll through the old city of QuFu, which was surrounded by an ancient wall. The enclosure gave a coziness to the city, and with the spring weather it was very relaxing. Walking down the peddler street, each stall called out their own deals on exotic crap which wasn't too exotic but certainly was crap. I just wanted food, so I grabbed a seat, pointed to some tiny lobsters, asked for some dumplings and beer, and I was good to go.

While eating I attracted the attention of some little local girls. They were amazed that I could speak Chinese (again), but more amazed by my China travel guide and pictures from QingDao. Turns out their mother was the chef who had been cooking my food, so I got a free desert (a donut thing) out of the chat. Also had a chat with a roided-out shop owner who wanted me to admit that Americans were troublesome (tough luck, dude) and an Amway saleswoman.

I hate Amway. Even moreso in China.

Also, each and every person I had met in QuFu claimed to be the decendent of Confucious. I'm the grandson of Milton Berle. I'm also 1/8 Filipino.

Anyways, after dinner it was bedtime. I was exhausted. And with a couple hundred miles under my belt for the day, I think I deserved it.

Day 3: Misty Mountain Hop

Head of the Turtle Deity Looking Over LaoShan
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

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Waking up early enough to catch the first bus, I made my way out of QingDao for the day to visit LaoShan. Like most mountains in China, LaoShan holds a certain religious/spiritual importance, and as I made my way around the area that day, I could understand why.

Debarking at the foot of the mountain, I had no idea where to go. There were no signs, no maps, no guides, and all the Chinese people were simply interested in selling you whatever crap they had laid out for sale. Being white makes one an easy target in China for entrepeneurial shysters, being a confused honkey makes one an even bigger mark.

I got into a conversation with a gentleman who told me that the really interesting stuff was further down the road. I said thank you and started walking, but he chased after me on his motorbike. After a short misunderstanding (I thought he was saying it was 3 km to the spot I wanted, he actually said it would be a 3 hour walk) we negotiated a price and I jumped on the back of his bike.

Let me say that I do not like motorcycles. They scare the hell out of me. And I've discussed how I don't like driving in China in general, so you might imagine how nervous I was at this point in time. Plus, I felt a little awkward hugging an old Chinese man, even if I was paying him enough for the pleasure.

Regardless, I'm happy I did it. The bike ride, which took about 15 minutes, took me down a windy road that coasted next to the ocean and around the mountain. We sped past terraced tea fields that rose up into the clouds and watched fishermen hauling in the morning loads. People on the side of the road were busy chipping away at various sculptures and some were building a dam. The weather was gorgeous, and the wind felt great against my face, and the whole spirit of adventure really got me going. I really can't express how amazing the entire experience felt, and I began to contemplate buying a motorcycle myself and taking a tour all through China when my contract was over. But that's far off in the future, and I still don't like motorcycles, and I still don't like driving in China.

Arriving at my destination, I took a gondola to the top. The short lift has hysterical, as many Chinese people below me, trekking either up or down the mountain path, starting pointing at the cracker on the gondola as if I were Superman (which I am). They took pictures, shouted hello, and I played right back with them. Its funny to think that someone somewhere in Shandong is showing off a quickly snapped picture of yours truly riding on a ski lift.

At the top of the mountain I purchased a small flashlight and entered the cave I needed to climb through to reach the summit. The pass was a little tight at spots, especially with my large backpack and wide build. Either way, the sense of adventure only grew and I felt my way through the shadows.

Returning to the sunlight, I asked a small band of Chinese to take my picture for me. They were shocked to hear my Chinese, and started chatting away with me about many various things. After I explained to them that I understood half of what they said, but that they had to speak a little slower, I joined up and spent the rest of the morning with them. They were LED engineers from QingDao who came on a office getaway for the day and they were all excited to talk with an American, especially one who spoke Chinese and therefore could have real conversation.

Arriving at the top of LaoShan, we took shelter under a boulder as they explained what some of the various emperial graffitti meant. Chinese emperors seemed to have been obsessed with transcribing their wisdom upon mountains, and the modern day Chinese are obsessed with taking pictures with these characters. I would see a lot more of this at TaiShan, but it was more interesting at LaoShan since it was much less crowded and I could take time and learn what the various transcriptions symbolized.

One point of interest on the summit was a sign that read "Beware of Turtle Deity Looking Great" or something to that effect. The Chinese (which I could read, thankfully) actually said something like "Here is the Great Turtle God Overlooking the Sea." What was to see was a rock formation in the form of a turtle sticking its head out of its shell and looking out over the mountainside and down to the sea. Look at the picture above and you'll catch on.

The turtle has significance in China, representing wisdom. One of their Nine Sacred Dragons (and you should know that the Chinese consider themselves Children of the Dragon, it might sound silly but they are serious about it and the mythos is pretty cool as you learn more about it) is a hybrid of a dragon with a turtle, but I'm getting ahead of myself. More on that when I get to QuFu.

After resting a bit the engineers treated me to some squishy garlicy dish that was... interesting, plus some tea. Drinking tea up on the mountaintop in a little rockhut was really cool, especially considering the view, and the tea was delicious. After a few cups I felt amazingly refreshed and promised myself to pick up some of the tea before I left the area. The Chinese are obsessed with tea (duh) and pride themselves on their local grow. The LaoShan tea, grown on the side of the mountain, benefitted not only from the daily mists that make for ideal tea growing situations, but also the natural spring water. This is the same spring water used for TsingTao beer and it is famed throughout China as the only water served at CCP headquarters in Beijing. Either way, the tea is unavailable in Harbin, or anywhere too far from QingDao, so I had to get it there while I could.

Coming back down the mountain I ducked into a Daoist temple where I wowed some monks with my Chinese. (This will never cease to amuse me, nor Chinese people for that matter!) I asked them some questions about Daoism, the significance of certain items in the temple, and the monk life in general. They were very friendly, and I got a picture of one, and they informed me of what was left in the area that was interesting and what could be avoided because it was dumb.

After getting back to the base and speeding back to the origina point, I took another path towards the largest temple in the area. Along the way I stopped for some grilled squid (delicious!) and a beer. The temple itself was right on the ocean and contained a flower that had been blooming in the temple's courtyard for over 100 years. There were more tourists here (Chinese), though not even close to the number I'd see later in my trip, and you couldn't take pictures, and I just wasnt as impressed as I was with the quiet mountain top temple.

Eventually getting back to QingDao, thoroughly exhausted, I realized I was beginning to sunburn rather badly. Now, I don't know how to say "sunburn" in Chinese, nor "suntan lotion" or "sunblock" or "ointment," so when I walked into a medicine shop I had to be a little creative. My query (in Chinese, again) when something like this:

"I am a white person. Look at my face. Now it is red. It should not be red. My face is stir-frying. Please give me something so it feels more comfortable and so I stop stir-frying."

They ladies at the counter thought that my use of "stir-frying" as the verb here was hysterical, but I don't know how to say burn and Chinese has about 10 different words for something getting hot or cooking or whatever. They figured out what I meant though and gave me a vial that had a lot of Chinese on it that I couldnt understand and the single English word "tincture."

Chinese medicine is a little crazy, often relying on herbology instead of real science and usually utilizing treatments that the West forsook generations ago. When I applied the medicine I had purchses to my face it stung like crazy, causing me to yelp and dance around in the medicine shop, giving even more amusement to the staff. Getting back to Harbin I translated the bottle's label and discovered it was alcohol that had been steeped with a certain root that we use to make benzoin. So it didn't help me from any future sunburning, but after the initial sting it did present a soothing, cooling effect.

After the medicine it was a small feast of dumplings and a final stroll along the piers, as the next morning I had to find a bus and make my way cross-country to QuFu. I watched the sunset on QingDao and said goodbye to the brine. Sometime around then I realized that in the past 13 months I had dipped my feet in both sides of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans: In Virgina Beach, Massachusetts, and Ireland; then in San Francisco and now QingDao. Something about that struck me as being pretty cool. Here I was, 24, and I can say I've dipped my feet in both sides of the two largest oceans of the world. I don't think many can share that experience. With a smile on my face I put my head to my pillow to rest up for Day 4.

Day 2: The Ocean

View of QingDao
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

(To view all of my pictures from the trip, please visit the following web address: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTdu2ctmrDBA)

Waking up in QingDao was a bit difficult. Not only was I tired from the travel the day before, but the phone kept ringing all night long in my hotel room. Turns out that when a single foreign man checks into a hotel room, the hotel staff go out of their way to help him find a local friend. I just wanted to sleep.

The morning was crisp and bright, so I set about walking through the older streets of QingDao, first hoping to visit a nearby Catholic Church that had been built by the Germans during their initial occupation roughly 100 years ago. (For those of you who do not know, QingDao was a German port for about 16 years, from 1898 till 1914, when Anglo-Japanese forces bombed the Germans out of town.) Some of the church had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but by now everything looked fine and dandy.

After the church, I tried to find a local hilltop park. The problem was that the streets leading to the park were too small to be on my map and, when I did find them, exceptionally confusing. Dead-ends, circular streets, names that seem to make sense but dont. While it took some time to find the park, I was at least treated to some quaint German-influence/traditional-Chinese architecture. I don't know how to describe it, as I don'k know much about architecture, but if you look at some of the pictures you'll understand.

Finding the park, I also found a man practicing "BaGua Zhang," a form of kungfu that involves a lot of circular motions, almost like taichi being executed at an accelerated pace. It was cool. Leave it at that. And the park, with its viewing tower, gave an amazing overlook of the entire city of QingDao. In one direction I could see the old city, in another the development, in another the "MoGu Lou," or "Mushroom Houses," which sat atop another hill and became my next destination.

The Mushroom Houses were contained in XinHaoShan Park, an easy walk from where I was. Entering the park through a moon gate, I had to climb up a bit of steps, passing a waterfall and dragon fountain along the way. Finally arriving at the Mushroom Kingdom, I took a rest in their observation deck where one could sit as the building rotated and provided a view of the entire city scape. Picking up some postcards on the way out, I proceeded to get lost trying to find my way out of the park, even though I spent some time talking to a cab driver about the history of the neighborhood and the city in general.

Once I did make my way out of the park, I made my way to QingDao Ying Bingguan, or the "QingDao Guesthouse." This manor had been built by one of the first German govenors in QingDao who spent a small fortune on the house. When the Kaiser received the bill, he quickly recalled and fired the indulgent govenor, but the manor still stands. Being quite large and in the turn of the century German style, I felt as though I had entered an H.P. Lovecraft story. Dark wood, stained glass, a creepy greenhouse, odd religious artifacts, the entire place gave off a creepy vibe. To the Chinese, who probably know nothing of Lovecraftian horror, the importance resided in Mao having used the manor as a meeting hall for the party elites during a summit in the 1950's. As such, many pieces of furniture are simply labeled "Mao slept here" or "Mao wrote letters here" or "Mao relaxed here." No signs about Mao in the restroom, however.

Strolling down the tree-lined streets to the ocean, I proceeded to walk along the seaside for most of the rest of the day. At first this was a bit annoying, as hundreds of high school students were on tour doing the same thing. Not being a fan of crowds or high school students, I simply pressed on as they all entered LuXun Park (named after the famed Chiense author). Soon after I came acorss a sand sculpture festival on one of the larger beaches, followed by a neighborhood named "BaDaGuan." BaDaGuan, and all of its streets, are named after passes in the Great Wall. Each street is lined with a different tree, like maple, cherry, peach, fir, etc. The result is that each street holds an entirely different color and character to it, my favorite being ShangHaiGuan Lu, which was simply right next to the ocean cliff. In this area I probably saw at least 20 brides running in their wedding dresses from scenic spot to scenic spot trying to get a perfect picture to remember their white wedding by. (More on Chinese wedding traditions in another post.)

At the end of the BaDaGuan area stood HuaShiLou, or Granite House. This was another gothic-y building with windy staircases and hidden rooms. Even creepier were the rotting floral scultures of cupids and hearts in the courtyard which gave an air of death and neglect, the creepiness magnified by their subject matter.

By now I was hungry, actually starving, so i decided to eat at the next restaraunt I came across with outdoor seating. Didn't take too long to find one, and the owner was one of the firendliest guys I've met. Probably helped that I walked in and said (in Chinese): "This is my first time in QingDao, and I don't know when I'll be back. I live in Harbin. Their seafood isn't too good. I want the best seafood you have to offer. And a lot of beer."

After getting over the shock of a cracker spouting his native nonsense, he took me on a tour of his tanks where I could pick out what i wanted (and see the price). Then I took a seat, he gave me a pitcher of beer, and I waited for the food as we talked about all sorts of things.

QingDao beer is delicious when fresh. The kegs usually get delivered every morning, and the people just tap them and sit outside drinking all day. Waiting for my crabs, oysters, sea cucumbers, and other delicious foods, Jiang (the owner) and I went through a pitcher talking about China, the US, the NBA, why I was here, teaching, anything we could. And since he was the owner, and so captivated to be speaking with a whitey, he kept bringing in more beer on the house. By the end of the meal I was quite drunk and happily back out on my way.

The end of the day was a bit more relaxed, probably because I was drunk. I continued along the beach and through a sculpture park that stretched for 5 kilometers or longer... I couldn't make it to the end. After reaching May 4th Square (named after the revolution and marked by a huge, red piece of modern art) I jumped a cab to the local Daoist temple, which is also the newest Daoist temple in China having been built in the 30's. It was cool, but I was tired, so I made it back to the hotel for a quick rest, then dinner, then a stroll up and down ZhongShanDaJie, and then to bed to recoup and prep for climbing LaoShan in the morning.

Day 1: Over the Hills and Far Away

QingDao' HuiLan Pavilion (It's on the beer bottle)
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

(To view all pictures from my trip, please follow this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTdu2ctmrDBA)

Waking up on Thursday, April 28, I was easily still drunk from the night before. Wednesday nights stand as poker nights, and the previous night's celebration was not only conducted in my own apartment, but also ended with me taking all the money. As such, a lot of Dewars was imbided.

Grabbing a Chinese burrito for lunch, I prepped to get ready to leave, jotting down some key Chinese phrases and getting a few last minute questions answered. At 1:30 my driver showed up to take me to the airport and the adventure had begun.

Getting through the airport was easy, thanks not only to my ever-improving language skill but also because I am not an idiot and have flown many times before. Flying in China is great, because 1) you can carry on most anything, which people do, and 2) you're forced to stand in lines. Most places of business in China are straight up mob scenes, so the order of waiting in line to get my ticket and through security was a refreshing reminder of Western order.

Soon enough we boarded and took off. The plane was nice, better than what I flew in back in 1997, though the Chinese don't understand the concept of headphones. This means as a program played on the front projection screen, the soundtrack was simply blasted throughout the cabin. If you wanted to sleep (like I, hungover as I was, wanted to), fat chance.

Descending, we broke through the cloud bank quite suddenly while right over QingDao. Banking around the bay, I was able to get a great view of the whole city. Even from the air the town with its neeighboring sea sparkled in the late afternoon air. It was obvious I was no longer in Harbin, nor was I in the China of years past. QingDao stands as a symbol of the new, international China. Clean, structured, and ready for investment.

The first real challenge, both of my language and my wits, came once I landed and needed to find a hotel. The system isnt the same here, very few people make hotel reservations and some hotels don't even take reservations. The practice is to simply find a place when you show up. This is also cheaper than making a reservation usually, as you can bargain with the reception desk. Being tired and having set aside a chunk of change for the trip, I wanted a place with a quality bed, by own bathroom, and well located. I gave a call to the ZhanQiao Hotel, which offered me a good deal over the phone. Making my way from the airport to the hotel by taxi (too tired to figure out the bus, let alone wait for it) I took my first ride through the city.

Almost immediately leaving the airport I was surrounded by low lying green mountains rising up everywhere. "ShanDong," the name of the province I was in, literally means "Mountains East," and from what I was seeing that wasn't a lie. Where we entered the city was where much of the newer commercial development was happening, so the architecture was very rounded with a lot of glass. A sharp contrast to the harsh corners and concrete predominate in most socialist architectural styles.

The ZhanQiao Hotel sat across the street from the sea in the older section of town. Sun YatSen, the man who worked to topple China's lasst emperor and establish the Provisional Republican Government of China in 1911, had stayed in this very hotel when he visited QingDao. Checking in, I got another 40 RMB knocked off my hotel room, when I quickly retreated to wash my face and put my bag down.

Venturing outside, the salty sea air hit my nose immediately as I walked out the front door. I love the ocean. I love the way it smells, I love the food, I love the energy it gives me, I love the sound of its waves. An incredible feeling of contentment hit me as I walked out those doors, and I knew this vacation was going to be awesome.

About a block down the road from the front of my hotel was the ZhanQiao, or Pier Bridge, which extended a few hundred yards out into the bay. Along the pier Chinese had lain out blankets touting all sorts of crap: bracelets, shells, dancing toys, tea sets, everything cheap and silly that one might by at the seaside. The pier ended with the HuiLan Pavilion, a famous symbol of QingDao. Pick up a bottle/can of the beer (improperly labeled "TsingTao") and you'll see a picture of this very structure. Standing here you can see a battleship or two in the distance, the lights of the city behind you, or Little QingDao, the nearby island that houses the local lighthouse.

Walking back across the pier, I headed to the local outdoor market. Picking out some squid and some fish, which were quickly fried and/or grilled, I sat at a small table overlooking the bay with its pavilion and enjoyed my first locally brewed QingDao beer.

It was good. Really good. Nothing like what you'll find back in the US. The beer that leaves the city is loaded with preservatives and at times altered. The local beer is always fresh, and always uses the waters of LaoShan springs, the local mineral water.

Stomach (and liver) satiated, I walked back to my room to rest up for my first full day of vacation. QingDao hinted at some great experiences, or at least some great food and beautiful seaside vistas, and I wanted to be well rested to enjoy it all to its fullest.

Shandong and Back Again: A McGonigle's Tale

The adventure fell nothing short of a complete and utter succcess. Each moment along the way, beginning as Qingdao appeared from underneath the clouds and until the plane touched back down in Harbin, brought new discoveries, stories, people, experiences, and excitement. I'm gushing right now with all that I want to share. I'm also peeling, as the weather was gorgeously bright each and every day and sunscreen is a rare commodity in the Orient. As are hats larege enough for my head.

Over the course of the past week I climbed two mountains and traveled hundreds of miles by bus. I watched the sunset on the western plane and then rise over the ancient kingdom of Lu. I ate turtles and sea cucumbers, drank from kegs and coconuts. I discovered the refreshing nature of roast squid paired with the proper green tea. I met a dozen ancestors of Confucious and none of them had anything wise to say. I did it all alone, relying solely on my wits (ha!) and my Chinese (HA!) but made many a friend along the way.

I'll be spending a lot of time posting the stories on this blog in the near future, just as soon as I get my pictures fully uploaded and ready to go. Keep an eye out. This trip has rejuvinated my mind and body like none other. I'm excited to share all about it, but more excited to see what else China has to offer.

Adventure!