The Clan's China Adventure, Episode 27: Qingdao Quest, Part IV: Mt. Laoshan

I love mountains. I'm not sure if it's due to the fact that I spent most of my life in flat Florida, or if it has more to do with family vacations to the mountainous regions of the U.S. and Taiwan as a child, but there's something about climbing to the top of a mountain on a beautiful clear day and taking it all in.

Fortunately, these days we live in China. While Shanghai itself is just about as flat as Florida (as far as natural elevation is concerned - you can get pretty high up in the skyscrapers!), China is not lacking in mountainous regions.

Since my first visits to China dating back to the turn of the century, I've ascended Mount Song near the Shaolin Temple in Henan, Mount Qingcheng near Chengdu (multiple times, most recently with friend and colleague Doug), Mount Hua near Xi'an, Mount Huang in Anhui, the snowy peaks of Mount Yulong in Yunnan, Sichuan's Jiuzhaigou, and Mount Emei, also in Sichuan. But having young children puts  a bit of a damper on hiking and trekking, so we haven't done much of it in a long while.

Until day four of our Qingdao Quest, that is!

On this day, we traveled about two hours from the city to reach Mount Lao, or Laoshan. Aside from its wonderful seaside views, Mount Lao is also known for its fresh water, which is supposedly used to brew Qingdao's famous Tsingtao beer!

We started the day at Mount Lao's large visitor's center, then took their shuttle buses up partway on the mountain, stopping at some photo opportunity spots along the way

Next, we took a gondola up to one of the closer peaks:

Beautiful coastal view from the gondola

At the first peak, we did a bit of exploring, checking out some of the shops on the path and a Taoist complex at the top:

Tiny tea settings

We took another gondola up higher in the mountain before taking another bus to the northern end of the national park:

Looks almost like the Mediterranean, doesn't it?

Crowded bus to the other side of the park

By this time, the kids were pretty exhausted, so we ended up sitting at the bottom of the mountains on the northern side of the park before moving on. But I'm glad we decided to trudge forth, because the northern side of the park had some real treasures in terms of views!

Having a snack at the foot of the mountain - the single phrase we heard most often from Lukas all trip long was, "I wanna eat some-fing!"

One of my favorite photos that I have ever taken!

Rowr!

After soaking in the amazing views, we literally ran all the way down the mountain - the kids really enjoyed doing it that way!

I picked up a Laoshan Cola, made (probably?) using the fresh springwater from Mt. Lao

Finally, we hustled back to the hotel where we had some of Qingdao's famous (and very economical) seafood!

Sauteed scallops!

Fried oysters, clams, dumplings, and aforementioned scallops!

It was a long and tiring day - I'm glad we trained the kids a bit before making the trip!

Another Chinese mountain in the books - are Mount Heng, Mount Tai, or the amazing-looking Zhangjiajie next on the horizon?

The Clan's China Adventure, Episode 26: Qingdao Quest, Part III: Chinese Writers, Russian Ships, and Danish Houses

Our third day in Qingdao continued the theme of the sea - first with a stop to the coastal Luxun Park, which featured a large amount of bare rock formations on the coast:

Doing Lukas' favorite vacation activity: snacking. "I wanna eat some-fing!"

The Qingdao Ocean World aquarium (not to be confused with the Polar World that we visited the previous day) features some nice China-esque architecture despite being a relatively modern building

The writer Luxun

After the morning stroll in the park, we went next door to the interesting China Naval Museum. This museum features a number of old (World War II through the Vietnam War) era combat vessels that you can tour and examine, as well as some land vehicles. Lots of opportunities for fun photos!

Stopping a missile with my bare hands - that's how I roll

The An Shan, a distinguished World War II era cruiser, procured by the Chinese from the Russians and in service until the 1990s!

Next, we took a stroll around "Little Qingdao", an island hosting some interesting combat paraphernalia - most notably a little track to transport and store munitions on the island:

My two little backpackers

Kids love a good excuse to splash!

We rounded out Day 3 with what ended up to be a brief visit to the Badaguan district - basically the former "expat" district which housed many European notables, including Danish Royalty, in the early 20th century. The visit was brief in no small part due to an unpleasant taxi experience - the driver sweet talked his way into taking us all the way north to Zhongshan park where he attempted to swindle us for admission tickets for some attractions up there, after which we walked a good 2 miles to get to Badaguan and the "Princess House":

A replica of the famous Danish Little Mermaid statue. Hans Christian Andersen himself contributed many of the decorative pieces on display today at the Princess House!

Beautiful view from the Princess House

Up next, we go up... up into the Mountains!