afuning

Day 1 - Departure from Hangzhou#

I managed to grab a second-class sleeper ticket departing at 8 PM. The destination is Qingdao West, but considering that it is too far from the city center, we decided to directly transfer to carriage 7 at Qingdao West Station to get a ticket to Qingdao North. The advantage is that we can sleep and arrive in Qingdao by dawn, and the price is relatively cheap. The downside is that it's hard to fall asleep due to the noise of children crying and the sound of the train moving, even with earplugs.

After arriving at Qingdao North, we took Line 3 directly to the hotel we booked. The hotel prices during the Double 11 shopping festival are about three times higher than usual! Compared to homestays, I prefer booking hotels, and Huazhu Hotels are my first choice. This time, I booked a Hanting Express hotel because it left a good impression on me when I was in Vietnam. However, since it is not in Southeast Asia, it can only be considered an average-priced hotel.

Day 2 - Qingdao City Walk#

• Zhanqiao Pier 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After a quick check-in at the hotel, we started our sightseeing in Qingdao. After discussing with my travel companions, we decided to start our city walk from Zhanqiao Pier. Zhanqiao Pier is a road that extends into the sea, with a small tower at the end. There were many people on the nearby beach and on the pier. We walked back and forth on the pier, and also visited the small tower for free to learn about the nearby buildings. However, we couldn't go up to the second floor of the tower.

• St. Michael's Cathedral 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After leaving Zhanqiao Pier, we followed the crowd and went to St. Michael's Cathedral. We had a simple meal of Zibo barbecue and a bag of Qingdao beer on the way. The cathedral required an entrance fee of 20 yuan. We walked around inside the cathedral, but since most Chinese people do not believe in this religion, it didn't feel very solemn. We just briefly visited the cathedral as tourists. Note: The restroom was dirty, so we went to a nearby mall.

• Signal Hill 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After walking around St. Michael's Cathedral, we decided to go to Signal Hill to overlook the old city area of Qingdao. There were a lot of people at Signal Hill, and we initially thought we needed to make a reservation in advance, but later found out that there was a paid reservation option on Ctrip. We bought a 30 yuan package ticket, which included a postcard and admission to the observation tower on the mountaintop. We lined up and climbed the mountain, which was about 100 meters high. The view of the old city area from the top of the mountain was indeed very beautiful. We queued up to enter the observation deck, which was slowly rotating to provide a panoramic view. The scenery in different directions, including the city, mountains, and sea, was all very beautiful. The most special thing was the European-style buildings in the old city area, with red roofs against the blue sky, white clouds, and green plants, with the vast sea in the distance.

• Instagrammable Street 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After coming down from the mountain, we were quite tired and our feet were sore. Since we didn't have any other plans, we just wandered around the old city, sat by the roadside, and had coffee. Sometimes, we stumbled upon pleasant surprises. We accidentally came across an Instagrammable street, where the walls were covered with cute and vivid graffiti. Many people were queuing up to take photos at certain spots, and there were also handsome guys and beautiful girls. Especially at the entrance of a store with the words "Qingdao" on it, there was a long queue just to take a photo with it. This long queue became part of my scenery. After exploring the Instagrammable street, we encountered another popular spot, which caused a traffic jam on the entire street. Since my friend was too tired, we walked to the nearest subway station and returned to the hotel to rest. Unfortunately, my friend had to work in the hotel. As a programmer, I couldn't bear to see this exploitation of employees' holidays!

• Dinner 🌟 🌟 🌟
  We found a local restaurant nearby on Meituan, similar to steam seafood restaurants in other cities. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations for Qingdao cuisine because, like other coastal cities, most of the seafood I usually eat is fresh. I didn't doubt the freshness of the seafood in this restaurant, as they were all alive and kicking. However, as a restaurant in a coastal city, the seafood was indeed slightly more expensive, but still within an acceptable range. We spent less than 300 yuan for two people, ordering half a kilogram of shrimp, clams, snails, and a bowl of fish soup.

Day 3 - Getting Close to the Sea#

When in Qingdao, it is necessary to plan activities close to the seaside. Therefore, on the second day, we mainly went to the beach.

• Ve Cafe (Dog-themed Pet Cafe) 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
  Since my friend's feet were too sore after walking nearly 20,000 steps the previous day, she stayed in the hotel to work after breakfast. I was bored, so I wandered around near the hotel and found a pet cafe that I discovered the night before. I didn't plan to go in at first, but seeing others entering, I bought a 39 yuan voucher on Meituan. Not only could I interact and play with the dogs, but it also came with a drink and a small amount of dog treats. The dogs inside were so cute!!! The owner gave each person a small notebook to introduce the names and personalities of each dog. It was irresistible for a dog lover like me. Later, my friend came out to find me and also bought a voucher. We couldn't leave the dog cafe. The owner even allowed the dogs to pose for photos with us. Since we weren't fond of taking photos, we didn't take any group photos, and now I regret it a bit. It's hard to encounter such a group of cuties again.

• Badaguan Scenic Area 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After the dog cafe, we took a taxi to the seaside. Although the subway was only 400 meters away from our hotel, the drivers in Qingdao drove much more aggressively than those in Hangzhou, giving us a feeling of playing go-karts. When we arrived at the beach, we changed into the flip-flops we prepared and walked onto the sand, getting close to the sea, feeling the sea breeze, and digging holes in the sand with our feet. When we got tired of standing on the beach, we sat on the sand using the shoe insoles we brought. There happened to be an aunt selling sand digging buckets and shovels, which cost only 15 yuan. Since we were already there, we bought a set and played with the sand. We didn't have any artistic talent, so we just dug a hole and built a small sand hill. When we got tired of playing, we washed our feet, found a cute little girl, and gave her the sand digging tools we bought. Her mother initially thought we were selling the tools and refused to take them, but the little girl really wanted them, so we gave them to her. Adults are always wary of being scammed.

• Taking a Cruise 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
  After leaving the beach, we originally planned to take a boat ride. There were several options available, with each route taking about half an hour. The daytime ticket cost 99 yuan per person, while the evening ticket for a night cruise cost 199 yuan. We chose to take the boat during the day, not only because it was cheaper, but also because we could see the sunset on the sea around 5 PM. After having dinner near the Shilaoren Beach, we took a taxi to May Fourth Square and went straight to the pier to queue for the boat. After about half an hour, we boarded a large boat and occupied a favorable position for enjoying the cityscape and the boundless sea. Since I had been on this type of boat before, it wasn't particularly exciting for me, but it was a new and exciting experience for my companion, who had only seen the sea once when she was young and had never been on such a large boat. On the boat, everyone stood on one side to admire the cityscape or the endless sea. We took the boat a bit too early, so the sun hadn't turned red yet. If we had taken the last boat during the day, we could have seen the red sunset, but it was a miscalculation on our part.

Day 3 ended, and we were really tired in the evening, so we ordered takeout at the hotel and went to sleep.

A Side Note 🤪#

After Day 3, both of us were already a bit tired from all the sightseeing. It was clear that Qingdao was overcrowded during the National Day holiday, making it difficult to truly experience the unique charm of the city. It felt more like a crowded tourist destination, and the travel experience was compromised. Originally, we planned to visit Laoshan Mountain on Day 4, but we saw a message on Xiaohongshu (a social media platform) about someone getting stuck on the mountain and not being able to come back, so we were unsure whether we should go. In the end, we decided to change our itinerary. On Day 4 (originally planned for Day 5 to visit Zibo and return to Hangzhou directly from Zibo), we took a high-speed train to Zibo to explore, have barbecue, and then return to Qingdao on the same day. Moreover, we still hadn't bought high-speed train tickets back to Hangzhou on the 5th, which made us quite anxious. Additionally, we had two hungry cats at home, so we were a bit worried.