Day #2, let's do this.

My opinion of Qingdao has soured slightly. That doesn't mean I hate it, I just am no longer struck with the lovers crush I had yesterday. The thing that makes Qingdao so great is that it's really small. I left myself 5 different things to check out, figuring "Okay, that's a good number to occupy my day."

I was done by lunch.

I have yet to take a cab in Qingdao except from the train station. And honestly if I didn't have my bag that day I would have walked. Part of it is that my hostel is really conveniently located. Part of it is that this city is a heck of a lot smaller than I thought it was. And finally the last things on my list were much shorter than I thought. They were, the old Governor's Mansion (cool if you want to see what a mansion would look like if your grandmother decorated it), the German Prison (a bit small, not that exciting), The Temple of Heaven (you've seen one temple in China, you've seen them all), the Zhan Pier (more on that later), and this crazy red ball thing I saw on a hill. All of them were extremely small, two room type things. It was 10 RMB to go inside the red ball dealie, and I could literally see the inside through a window. It consisted of people looking outside at me. I figured I could pass on this.

But I want to tell you what happened at Zhan Pier. I was walking along, taking in the sights, looking at the iconic front of the Tsingtao bottle. There was a family walking with their golden retriever, just doing their thing. Then, disaster struck - a lady who had finished her water, decided to toss her bottle into the ocean. Not on Captain Planet's watch.

The golden retriever, later I find named "Maodu", saw the water bottle flying overboard and must have thought "OH MY GOD, IS IT TIME TO PLAY?!" He darted off with a bark, and promptly jumped straight into the ocean. Everyone gathered around to see the spectacle, and he promptly returned the bottle to the lady. She was a bit embarassed that Al Gore in dog form returned her rubbish, but then threw it away properly. Maodu shook the water off in that way dogs do, and got a child standing too close wet. Doggie fist(paw)bump.

Must get water bottle!

Water bottle water bottle water bottle water bottle!

Must... return... bottttttle!

HERE YOU GO! Throw it again please?

It was 4 RMB to go inside the building at the end of Zhan Pier, and there were no indications of what was in it. It turns out its pretty much bullshit because the only thing in it is a bunch of shops selling the same crap you can get anywhere. Ah well, it's not like I was out a fortune. That fortune was reserved for dinner, as I had a 50 RMB feast at a hole in the wall. Such holes in the wall usually cost 10-15, so I went all out. I couldn't read a lot of the menu and was tired of the few dishes I knew how to say, so I decided to go off menu. I got marinated duck with tomato and scrambled duck eggs. Did you know you can scramble duck eggs? Did you also know duck eggs are immensely more delicious than chicken eggs? One of the best meals I've had in China – I don't regret the $8 price tag or consuming two generations of waterfowl.

Tomorrow I'm off to Beijing, and will be out of communication for the next few days. See you soon.