To Beijing and Back
Just got back from Beijing after spending the weekend there. Actually that is quite a cool thing about living in China. Travel is pretty cheap. I booked the flights 2 days before leaving and got a return flight to Beijing for under $130. So it means I can always pop up to Beijing or down to Shanghai, when things get a bit claustrophobic in Qingdao. For your information, Elong.net will deliver plane tickets to your door, and they speak English.
So the weekend was pretty fun. The thing about living in Qingdao is that it can get quite dull going to the same bars over and over and it is nice once in a while to go out somewhere different.. Also I spent the weekend re visiting all my favourite restaurants. There is a dearth of quality international eating establishments in Qingdao. So I gorged myself for 2 days straight. The lack of decent foreign food is actually a problem for me at the moment, due to an acute case of food poisoning where I was both sitting on the toilet in agony while chundering into my bathtub at the same time. Ironically although it was Japanese food that poisoned me, I am now completely unable to stomach Chinese food. So have been surviving on a diet of pizza and McDonalds for the past month. Am hoping this phase will pass soon, because I have seen Super Size Me and I am following that diet closely. Apart from the decent food I have noticed how much the air has improved in Beijing since the Olympics. That is a major disadvantage of living in this city. I reckon I aged about 5 years in one year and everyone comments on getting more spots and breakouts. I am a fully grown man, so getting spots is a bit ridiculous. The only consolation is that it happens to all of us out here. Either way, any improvement in the air quality seriously welcome. I am now on the flight home again back to Qingdao and am completely ignoring the instructions to turn my computer off for landing. It is quite fun in China that you can pretty much do what you want when you want.
- Nick