This is not a tale of smooth planning and flawless execution. This almost wasn't a tale about anything at all except two taxis rides to and from the airport. The plan was simple, head to Qingdao for the annual international beer festival with our friends Ceri and Thomas and their two little un's. We took Friday off work to fly down and get in place for the weekend activities and we had an early start to get to the airport. Being only an internal flight we figured three hours before take off was excessive but maybe we sliced a bit too much fat off the plan. The taxis driver cost a few more minutes than expected but I hesitate to lay the blame at his door. At the check in we queued up behind some people having a little trouble checking in which again cost us a few minutes but still it is hard to put the blame there. When we got to the front Ceri and Thomas checked their family in and we all started to relax. That is until Eleanor and I handed over our passports to be told that the check in was closed for the flight. A quick run around to the help desk revealed no more flights for the day and our only choice was a very early flight in the morning. Not a great start but we waved goodbye to Ceri and Thomas as they ran to catch the plane which clearly wasn't going to hang around for long.
At home for the day we were pretty grumpy, not quite the holiday that we had hoped for. However, it turned out the others weren't having a great time either. With various messages passing back and forth it was obvious that they were struggling to find the hotel we had booked - often not as easy it sounds with Chinese taxi drivers. Eventually they were led round the back of a bank and up some random stairs to the reception...where they were told that there was no room. Protests that we had a booking via booking.com were in vain, they phoned them and agreed we did indeed have a booking but crucially they did not have room so that wasn't much use. Cue a mile walk with two children in tow through the heat to find somewhere else to stay. Back in Beijing we got an early night mindful that the next day was going to be a big one.
Back to the airport for attempt number two and we thought we would use the electronic check in machines and avoid the queues at check-in, only to be rejected because we had an infant. Back to the queues and it seems that Saturday morning is way busier than Friday morning, not something we had factored into our planning. Again we were cutting it fine by the time we got to the front and we were relieved when we checking in and got on with hustling through security.
Flight over we made it to our hotel and hooked up with the others and wondered down to the harbour side a short walk away. We took a celebratory photo by a huge red statue to mark the start of holiday time.
Walking along the harbour front it became clear that our plan of finding a beach for the morning was going to have to be actioned elsewhere. However, it was a busy stretch for tourists to stroll along but soon we became one of the attractions with plenty of interest in Western children as ever. With the sun out it was lovely and warm and at last it was time to enjoy the view. The bay had been used in the Olympics and they still proudly have the rings to remind everyone.
Further along the front we picked out somewhere to stop for lunch, an Irish bar with plenty of seats out of the heat. While they had a great selection of spirits behind the bar they lacked in serving staff but eventually we were given a menu and ordered a selection of pastries and waffles. At one end of the bar there seemed to be some filming going on and they popped over to ask if we could keep the children quiet as they weren't expecting much background noise. So let us examine the evidence, an Irish bar clearly stocked for heavy drinking in the middle of the day with a camera crew who expected it to be empty and not a waiter in sight. In retrospect it is obvious that we were not going to get world class service and indeed 45 minutes later we wondering how long it takes to make a waffle. Shortly after I was wondering how on earth they packed so much grease and fat into a single croissant but for sure I wasn't to lack for energy for the rest of the day. While it was in keeping with the success of he weekend so far it was frustrating to spend almost an hour on a snack and when we left we put our heads down to find some beach to at least tick that box before the day was out.
A taxi per family and a bit of fun meeting up at the other end saw us on the beach pushing the prams towards the sea feeling like we were trekking across the desert
It was hot hot hot and so we were drawn to the tables and sun shades and despite the steep 300RMB for a couple of hours stumped up the cash to have some much needed shelter, extending it by hanging our towels down from the brim. Settled in and with lots of dozing on the cards for the babies we took turns heading down to the sea to slash around and cool off. It was hard to tell if Alex enjoyed wading out to sea to bounce in the waves but the one that daddy misjudged and splashed him in the face was certainly not too welcome.
We ended the adventure by sitting Alex down on the sand at the edge of the waves and were rewarded with a little giggle when he slashed the water.
After some more relaxing it was time to walk up to the beer festival at last. Not quite next door we were helped by all three children falling asleep in the heat and soon we were looking around the various tents. Each brewery had a large marquee with tables to drink at and all had a stage with loud music to fill the tent. The first tent was a German brewer and had a hot dog stand in the entrance - just the job for peckish visitors and we made good use
We soon discovered that we were an even greater attraction than at the harbour front and every time we paused we were mobbed with people trying to take photos and in the case of the three journalists who joined in tried to interview for good measure. This wasn't our main concern however, it seemed that drinking was to be done in a marquee at a table and with the loud music it wasn't somewhere the babies would be happy. Is it possible that in our not so successful weekend we would end up going to a beer festival without tasting any beer?! Thomas and I went to investigate, and possibly sneak in a pint for the sake of it. Luckily we found one tent with acceptable decibels and quickly moved in. The menu almost proved to be a sticking point since it was entirely in Chinese but deciding that the first beer on the list was probably safe we ordered four of those. Of course in most weekends this would have been fine but lady luck handed us the loaded dice once again. It wasn't a disaster (egg shell flavoured beer for example) but it was 9% which was a bit steep for the first drink of the day and not quite the thirst quencher we were aiming for. Still beer is beer when the chips are down so we tucked in....right until the sound levels jumped up several gears at which point we downed as much as we could and hustled for the door before the little people got too upset.
We strolled off through the crowd only to find a stand selling beer outside the tents so we grabbed some bottles and pushed our way through the crowd which gathered whenever there was a hint we might pause for a while. To balance the treat of beer for the boys we came across an ice cream van staffed by an Italian family so of course some tubs were purchased.
With tiring children, and lets face it tiring parents, we headed out to the main road to hail a couple of cabs. Not so easy given where we were and the fact that they all seemed to be full. We almost stuck gold but as the taxis came to a stop a police man waved it on! Ceri and Thomas jumped in a free cab and sped off with a loose plan to meet up for dinner near the hotels. It took us a long while to find a free taxis and we were teetering on the end of our collective tethers. The journey back was quite quick but we figured it had taken so long to find a cab that Ceri and Thomas would have finished eating by the time we got there so as we walked into the restaurant we were surprised to find we couldn't see them. Some text messages later and it became clear that lady luck had played her part once again, the driver had taken the town route back and they were still sat in traffic and would be there for a while longer. As our meal was being served they came in the door looking understandably less than pleased with their drivers local knowledge and navigation choices.
The next morning we had some time before getting a taxis (early this time!) to the airport so Eleanor, Alex and I went down to the harbour front where there were a number of kite sellers. These ranged from tiny paper thin kites with a few feet of string to 4 feet wide kits with lots of slack. It was a bit misty but very warm but crucially there was enough of a breeze to get the kites in the air. Eleanor haggled for a large red kite and soon put it to good use.
Colin's attempt a short time later was a lot less successful but lets just put that down to a drop in the wind right? With a little more time we went for a walk along the front at half pace due to the heat. Past a few stalls selling tat we found a permanent tent like structure with what sounded like a Sunday morning group sing along in session
We never did find out what it was about but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves!
Time was up at this point and all that was left was to hustle back to the hotel, grab our ride to the airport and get a lift home. Maybe our luck was beginning to change, we all arrived at our apartments with only seconds to spare before a huge thunderstorm soaked Beijing!
No comments:
Post a Comment