Qingdao

Recharged from a week in South-Korea I took the boat over to China. Even in ‘business class’ this was cheaper than flying, especially after I had convinced the lady of the ticket office that I was still a student and thus eligible to a 20% discount.

After arriving and hiking up to my hostel on the hill I went through the usual challenge of procuring a train ticket, got a nice dinner and had some beers at the hostels social night.

Qingdao's waterfront as seen from the pier.
The city had been in German hands for years, which was still visible from the architecture in the old centre.
My hostel was housed in an old observatory.
Which had a great roof terrance!
The next morning I got on the Chinese bullet train to Shanghai (312 km/h). One oddity was how the attendants were tasked with washing the train (well, one side of the train); maybe to make it go faster?