Arriving Qingdao

NOTE: updated the previous blog.

I'm sat on the roof of my current hostel waiting to check in. It is 8 o'clock. I have been in Qingdao since 4.30. I sat in the bus station reading for an hour, then decided to try and walk what I thought would be a 1km stroll to the hostel. The bus station was not where I thought it was. Taxi hailed, taxi heads West (I know from the sun, stupid Germans didn't build nice compass oriented roads like the Chinese do), I was heading East. A

rrive with ease and walk through the walk to get to the Old Observatory Hostel (named because that is indeed what it is) past people jogging, exercising in other ways, playing some sort of badminton thing with their feet/hands/body (shuttlecock thing kicked between people like men/boys (generally) do with footballs, only these groups were of middle aged women, and one guy with a sword. Steered clear of him. I arrived at the hostel at 6.30ish, the night guy checked I had a reservation and put my bag away, walking past 2 guys they're putting up on sofas in the corridor (national holiday + beer festival = no beds for non-bookers).

This hostel is beautiful anyway, I've put my first few photos online already it's that nice. For example:


To get here I caught what I thought would be a 9 hour bus from Nanjing. It was in fact 7.5 hours (hence arriving at 4.30 rather than 6 when I'd hoped to arrive). This was a bus with beds. 3 rows of bunk beds down the length of the bus. Each about 6 foot in length, with an inclined head rest such that the person behind you can fit their feet under your head rest, and place some personal items on the shelf which extends from the back of this head rest. Not the most comfortable sleep I can imagine - but equally not too bad, if a little surreal/odd. I've put some pictures on picasa...but I don't think they came out very well. Once such is:


At the front you can see a TV screen (in front of the window in fact), and to either side is a set of bunk beds. At the front of the image are my legs, and it then extends into the bed in front of me. It's hard to take photos even in dark mode without people noticing. The following photo is from www.africa-trade.ci/china/bus/sleeper_bus.htm



So, I'll update more in Qingdao when I get a chance. Thus far, it seems quite nice. We'll see whether it can knock Suzhou as my favourite place in China so far.