Day 5 of an Unforgettable Journey

Cont'd

Day 5 began auspiciously. Once I opened the curtains to my hotel room window, I saw a beautiful sunrise. I knew that we'd have another fine day. 

The view from my hotel window.

Nearer to the hotel, there was a monument to symbolize the linking of the world of the sky to that of sailing through two white rings.

To take advantage of the early rise, I went out to take a few
photographs of the nearby Olympic Sailing Centre before the square became filled
with holiday crowds.

There was a ring of flagpoles, presumably one for each nation entering the Olympic sailing competition.

Through the flag poles, one could see the rest of the city in the distance.

The sun has not yet risen above the surrounding buildings. In the foreground is the metro-station. What a pity we were not given a chance to take any ride to see what it looks like and how it feels to ride their metro trains. 

The square was big, like so many things in China.

A yacht had already been fitted with sails.

The quayside was lined with small sailing boats.

The morning sun was creating interesting patterns of light and shade on the bottoms and sides of the boats.

A row of motorized crafts parked along the pier. Their sides were cleverly protected by rubber tubes.

This must have been the hall for the Olympic events.

A tackle for lifting the boats ashore.

In the distance were three yachts, awaiting attention.

Close to the water, there was a helicopter, presumably for some rapid emergency rescue work.

And also an amphibian tour bus.

I walked closer and found the sun not yet above the hill line. Time's up! I had to rush back for breakfast.

The reception counter of our hotel, which used to house the Olypmic yatchtsmen and has now been adapted into its present conditions.

The hotel lobby.

Perhaps to fit in with the theme of the Olympics, all decorations in the hotel appear somehow to be linked to either the globe or water. A curtain of crystals to simulate water drops at photo right and a metal ball of leaves to photo left.

The central metal ball sculpture with papaya leaves. Or are they ferns?

Better take a closer look. This is the reflection of the lower side of the metal sculpture.

A close up of the carved metal sphere.

A little further, another wall of water upon glass.

Behind the hotel lobby, there is a patio also fitted with fountains and marble "Saturns"(?) and wooden drums.





After breakfast, we had a short water tour around the harbor. The opposite sides of the harbor appeared to be guarded by two flames,
one modern and the other mock-traditional: spiraling rings with a flame
on top like a spinning toy top and a more traditional Chinese candle.

This is as close as we could get to the  5 Olympic rings.  Blue for Australasia, black for Africa, red for America, yellow for Asia and green for Europe?

The nearest we got to the Olympic flame monument in bright red.


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From the boat, we had a seaward side view of the Olympic hall. You can see that it has what looks like the shape of a sailing boat at the corner of the square. There's another to the left for symmetry.

The light tower. Behind it again, a row of flag poles and behind them a row of spot lights for the relevant flags. It must have been quite an emotive moment when one sees the flag of one's country at the head of the row of masts with light shining upon it!

A curious optical illusion: one top Olympic ring for each of the three buildings behind them.

We were approaching the end of our short water tour. I like the reflection of the morning sun upon the surface of the sea.

The water is in different hues of blue. Simply beautiful.

This is now the official name of the square after the Olympic events are over.
 

After selecting one famous green-side abalone (青邊鮑) and a Tsingtao "pair shrimp" (對蝦) for my lunch, I took a photo of the changing colors of the trees in front of the metro station before boarding our coach. You got to pay $80 RMB each for the two delicacies though . But they're really worth it! Simply delicious!

I like the color of the leaves.

And I took another photo of the top of this building.

The sunny sea shot from my seat in the coach bus on our way to the wholesale seafood supermarket frequented by locals.

A hand holding up the globe, shot from my seat in the coach. Presumably another Olympic monument. We were told by our local tour guide that to finance the Olympic event, each working Tsingtao adult had to contribute $1.00 RMB per month for a year from their salary by deduction but that no one complained!

Before we went to the restaurant, we stopped by that wholesale seafood supermarket, recommended to us by our local tour guide. I merely bought some dried shrimps, dried baby clams and a sauce made from the brain of shrimps (蝦頭醬), a very local specialty supposed to be excellent with noodles. I tried it at home. It's good.  But you got to pay an admission ticket before they allow you in. The above is a shot from a tiny square outside the wholesale market.The weather was really good. All sun and blue sky.

The same sky a little later after the shopping.
 

Some new development close to the wholesale seafood supermarket.

The seaside next to the little square.

Some locals were fishing but no way you can get away from the mobile phone.

One local angler with two fishing rods. Maybe the catch will pay for dinner for the family.

This is where I had my "greenside abalone" and Tsingtao shrimp.

It's called "Tsingtao Canopy City"

It's quite dark inside. To alleviate the claustrophobic atmosphere, the roof is painted with clouds and a blue sky.

The other side of the canopy city.

There are all kinds of shops selling different kind of stuffs inside the canopy city and many restaurants. We had our "sea-food" lunch in one of them..

Some children were there on a field trip. How happy they look!

These are probably kindergarten or primary one  kids.

This is a "performance art" artist, dressed and painted up like a Japanese soldier, completely motionless.

This is another.. He's dressed also like a soldier, with a rifle in his hand but he's sitting on a child's bike and in front of him there's a cartoon character. What is he trying to express?

Two girls were performing on their Chinese string instruments, one bowed the other plucked. But no one appear to be paying them any attention. What a way to make a living! Perhaps not all the days are like this.

The city is full of hotels and restaurants. These buildings used to be occupied by foreign traders.  This hotel has chosen to place one Chinese opera mask on each of the columns of its external wall.

Here are some of the masks. They are quite interesting.

This is one with a green face blue forehead.

One with a red face and red forehead.

Another one with a red face and read forehead

One with an orange face and black forehead.





One with an orange face and blue forehead.

An orange face with black forehead.

A yellow face with an orange forehead.
 

A yellow face with a green forehead.

A yellow face with red forehead.

A yellow face with a spiral forehead.

A green face with green forehead.

A green face with a split green forehead.

A blue face with blue forehead.

A blue face with a black forehead. What do these masks mean? And why in different patterns and colors? I'm sure the different masks have all got different meaning and are intended to convey different emotions and different personality or character types:  villains, heroes etc.

Whatever the reasons behind the masks are, after lunch it was time to go. Back to Tsingtao Airport!

On the way home, I took the opportunity to observe the different types of clouds. I love cloud watching. Here's a smooth carpet like layer of clouds.

Here we got more clouds, not so smooth.

From time to time, you find these jet streams.

The clouds seem to be gathering.





In the distance, you can see that evening is approaching. The sky is beginning to turn red.

More and more clouds.

The plane is now flying through them.

Now we've left them behind.





But in the distance, you see another storm building up.

The storm is breaking! But I haven't got the faintest doubt that our plane is built for safety! We've gone past the storm and I'm home, safe, a happier man and a bit more knowledgeable about the beauty of my motherland.