My favorite part of the train ride was morning time.  Chinese people wake up at the crack of dawn! 95% of them were up and rustling around even before 6am! I just had to laugh because it?s too funny that they woke up that early ? especially when the train wasn?t going to stop for at least another hour! Being on a sleeper train is an excuse to catch up on sleep! They all sat there devouring their cardboard bowls of instant noodles.  We arrived in Qingdao a few minutes after 7am, and all of the SASers made a mad dash to catch cabs back to the ship.  All of us knew we wanted to be back on the ship before 8:30am because that?s when they stop serving breakfast! The cab driver dropped us off at the port, but the entrance was still quite far from where the ship was docked.  We finally caught a glimpse of the MV Explorer and we felt reassured that we would be ?home? soon ? just in time for breakfast! Luckily, the gangway was on deck 2.  The line didn?t move too quickly because they had to check all of our packs that were absolutely stuffed with clothes, toiletries, and stuff we bought. 

 

Breakfast was wonderful! We reunited with Hayley, who had gone on a SAS trip to a university in Beijing.  Sounds like we all had a great time in China! I am definitely glad that I traveled independently rather than with SAS, though.  It was cheaper and it?s more rewarding because I know that I can survive and get where I need to go despite language barriers and being in a completely unfamiliar environment.  It?s really satisfying to know that I can get around on my own or with a few other people rather than with a tour guide and a big air conditioned bus.  I feel like I?m less of a tourist ? but?let?s not kid ourselves?all of us stick out like sore thumbs whether we?re with a big group or just by ourselves or with one or two other people!

 

Once I got back on the ship this morning, I didn?t end up leaving again at all to explore Qingdao.  The taxi ride from the train station to the port was enough for me ? it didn?t really look like there was too much to see.  Nothing could compare to everything we saw in Beijing! I spent the rest of the day putting old pictures on cds, organizing China pictures, and writing in this darn journal!

 

Here?s some general observations/information about China?

-          I felt SAFE. I?ve pretty much felt safe in every country we?ve visited since Brazil.  I feel welcomed into the countries we?ve visited and this one was no exception.  The people want to talk to you and get to know you, and they want you to enjoy what their country has to offer. 

-          Toddlers don?t walk around with pull-ups on; they walk around with a slit cut in the back of their pants.  Yep, I saw plenty of little baby butts hanging out.  It?s actually really adorable to see a little kid teetering around with a hole in the seat of their pants.  I guess this is the Chinese approach to potty training?!

-          Chinese people have a very active lifestyle.  I didn?t see anyone outside running and I definitely didn?t see any gyms, but I saw TONS of people getting around town by bike rather than by car.  It?s amazing that they eat so much, yet they?re still fairly thin as a society because they ride their bikes all over the place!

-          I love eating with chopsticks! I?m glad I bought a nice set in Vietnam because I know I definitely want to eat with them occasionally when I get home! It?s so much fun and I actually am pretty good with them now because regular silverware is nearly impossible to come by in China. 

-          We saw dogs on leashes.  It was such a relief to see dogs AS PETS, not just malnourished strays wandering around.

-          I should have been paying more attention to Chinese women?s feet.  I saw one older woman who clearly had gone through the binding process when she was younger because her feet were completely disproportioned to her body.  They had to have been only about 4-5 inches long!!! I?m pretty sure that binding isn?t practiced today, so you would only see it in the older generations of women?I can?t believe the extremes women go to just to be ?beautiful.?

-          One of our most-used Chinese phrases was ?Xiexie? (pronounced shay-shay), which means ?thank you?

o       In general, the language barrier was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! Almost everyone we interacted with spoke at least a little bit of English.  I didn?t end up using the Mandarin phrase book I bought before the trip!  As long as you know ?Ni hao? and ?Xiexie,? you?re good to go!

-          CHINA IS AWESOME!