Lost Horizons

Between the mountain and the sea

Well I have arrived in Qingdao, and it seems to be a nice, small (by Chinese standards) city. We landed through smoke coming from the stacks of several factories and a power station. It seems strange to me, to put these on the approach path of an airport, but, hey, what the heck. Clearing formalities here was a breeze, and very soon we were in our bus heading on the highway into the city. It seems that the driver only new two modes of driving: second gear and freewheeling, but we got to the hotel safely enough.
Qingdao is the venue for the sailing in the 2008 olympics and there is a lot of building going on, just don't look too closely at some of the lifting gear hanging off the cranes. The internet is painfully slow here, apparently due to the earthquake off Taiwan; I wonder how long they will continue to use that excuse?
It seems that this will be a boozy couple of days: tonight its a meal, probably followed by karaoke, then tomorrow we are going on a city tour in the morning, before heading up to Laoshan in the afternoon, then in the evening its pre-dinner cocktails, speeches and a dinner, no doubt followed by more karaoke. I just hope my body can handle it!

posted by Luke @ 5:38 PM