A Day Trip to Beidaihe..

For the past two months, I've been wanting to see the sea.

We live about 5 miles from the shore, so you'd think it wouldn't be a problem to just

drive on over and take a peek.  Either the driver wasn't available, or the weather was foggy, 

or some other reason.  Apparently the shoreline in our city isn't 

very beautiful.  Lots of ships, docks, cranes, etc., 

and even if you get to the water, it's pretty dirty.  

However, two hours north of us is a nice little resort town.  

Apparently it was a favorite vacation spot for Chairman Mao,

along with the Russian diplomats. 

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This is on the Bohai sea portion of the Yellow Sea.  

The temperatures were coolish--in the 60's--so it wasn't crowded.

There were still at least 3 different wedding photographers at work.

(Don't you love the tux jacket and jeans?)

 During the summer months, the beaches are packed with Russians--down from eastern Russia.

Everywhere else in China, signs are in Chinese with English sub-signage.

Here, the sub-signage was in Russian.

 And when I asked how much a conch shell cost, I didn't recognize the answer--

until I realized the Chinese lady was probably speaking Russian to me.

And then I still didn't understand what she said, but when I asked again in Chinese,

she responded in Chinese.  At least I know the money system now.

 The town was just fun!  Like being in Jackson Hole, WY, or Estes Park, CO,

there is just a fun atmosphere in a resort area.

I especially loved the pinion pines and their smell.

And we kept commenting on how clear the air was

and how blue the sky.  What a change from smoggy Tianjin!

 Lunch (pizza!) on the balcony of a restaurant.

 (Without the flash shows the background, and with the flash you get to see faces!)

Ellie bought her hoodie for less than $5, and we still aren't sure

if they wanted to spell "simile" or "smile" with two eyes.

 Everywhere you go in China at this time of year, there are street vendors with cooked corn on the cob.

Oh, how we miss our American sweet corn!  But we'd been forewarned. 

THIS corn isn't anything like sweet corn and we'd avoided it.

But our driver thought he'd treat us, and bought some for us.

We tried eating it.  Alice did the best, getting half of her ear gone.

I slowly nibbled at one end, praying for the pizza to

come quickly so I had an excuse to lay it aside.

What was it like?  Gelatinous globs of starch.

And yet I see Chinese walking down the street, devouring an ear of this stuff.

They just don't know what GOOD corn tastes like!

I have to tell you about the miracle that occurred.  After we had decided to go

to Beidaihe, Ellie informed us that some of her friends from school

and their families were staying there for a few days.  So we were hoping to meet up with

them, not realizing how hard that might be. We roamed around one big beach, and didn't see anyone. 

So while A & E played some soccer,

Kevin and I walked down to see a pagoda at the end of the beach.

We saw one Caucasian at a street vendor, purchasing rice on a stick.  

You never know here in China if the Caucasians will be Europeans, Americans,

Australians, or now, Russians.  So we said a tentative "hello". Turns out he was part of the

group we were looking for! We arranged to meet them on their hotel's private beach

and had a great afternoon.  Kevin and the girls played volleyball, 

we walked along the beach front,

 bought a beautiful conch shell for Alice at the store with the Russian-looking roof,

 and we actually got in the water and swam.  "Oh, this isn't as cold as the

Burgess Canal, or Red Fish Lake!"  Funny how that is the benchmark for what

is endurable.  After 20 or 25 minutes in the water though, my fingers started feeling like I

WAS in the canal, i.e., they were getting numb and hard to move,

and I knew it was time to go get dressed.

With dry clothes on, and even a jacket, the cool breeze was no longer such an enemy.

We left about 4 pm, expecting to be home around 6 pm.

Boy, were we surprised (and hungry!) when it was almost 8 pm before we walked in the door!

We've found out a couple of problems.

Chinese drivers do not read road maps.  They prefer going by instinct--

and they aren't used to going outside their small home area.

 (And we even have an in-dash navigational system, and On-Star!)  

We somehow got on a different return expressway--

 there was a lot more traffic with a few slow-downs, and 

about the time the sun goes down, all the big trucks get on the road,

and they are slow, numerous, and dangerous!

(We'd been warned about that too).

It took 20 minutes to get through a toll gate that normally takes

a minute or two.  It got increasingly frustrating as the driver took wrong

turn after wrong turn, then would have to go back--and WE could tell

from the GPS what was the right way to go. 

 It was one of those times when even though Kevin could

say the right words, the communication was still not getting through.

But we made it!  

It was just too bad the day ended on a slightly-sour note after it had been so wonderful.