My trip to Qinhuangdao May Day Holiday 2007
Today, on May 5th,2007, I began my third trip to Qinhuangdao. We set off around 8:00am towards Qinhungdao. Qinhuangdao got its name from the first China's emperor - Qinshihuang of Qin Dynasty about 2000 years ago. He came to Qinhuangdao for several times lookling for longevity herbs. Today several relics sites have been found regarding that period of history in Qinhuangdao. Qihuangdao is about 300 kms away from Beijing. Under its juridiction are three districts lying from south to north - Beidaihe District, Haigang District and Shanhaiguan District. Beidaihe is famous for its beach; Haigang District ( often called "Qinhuangdao") is where the city hall is located with a large part of inhabitats; Shanhaiguang is well known for its Old Dragon Head and Shanhai Pass Tower, the eastern starting point of the great wall in Ming Dynasty. Beidahe is located 30kms to the south of Qinhuangdao ( the Haigang District ). Shanhaiguan is located 30kms to the north of Qinhuangdao ( Haigang District ). We arrived at Qinhuangdao arund 12:20:pm. The local partner - Ms Wang Manrong came and gave us a warm welcome. We have been op-operated for about 10 years. She arranged our lunch at Dongpu Restaurant. The reataurant is clean and well decorated. We were in a big compartment on the second floor. This was the first meal in Qinhuangdao. We were very happy with the lunch. After lunch, we drov 30 kms and got to the Shanhaiguan Old Dragon Head. The Old Dragan Head, or Laolongtou in Chinese, is 4 kilometers south of Shanhaiguan. It is the eastern end of the Great Wall, which stretches about 20 meters into the sea like a dragon drinking water, hence the name. On the parking lot of Old Dragong Head, we found something quite interesting quite to our surprise. Two pretty girls were playing on the water of the pond. They were contained in a close transparent big ball floating on the pond. It was first time for me to see such king of water ctivities. It was recorded that General Qiejuguang during Ming Dynasty once garrisoned here to safeguard the inland China. This scenic spot includes serval parts: Ningcheng city, Chenghai Tower, Old Dragong Head and more. It looks like a descending great wall nosing towards the sea. We took some picturs there.The present wall of The Old Dragon Head today is a replica built in1980s. This time we didn't go to Shanhaiguan which is a must for first-time visitor to Qinhuangdao. Shanhaiguan Pass is actually a town at the northern part of the Bohai Gulf,between the mountains and the sea, formerly constructed as a fortress in the Ming dynasty. It was used as defence works at eastern end of the Great Wall. After visiting the Old Dragong Head, we moved on to a beach near Beidaihe. Though it was still early for beach activities. We still found two brave people swimming in the sea. Most of us took off their shoes and walked on the sand and ventured a little further in the sea. We were happy to see the sea. Some flew kites, some rode the motar-cars on the sand. Most of the people just sat on the sand thinking and talking. It was a world of carefree life scene. This is part of the life we should have dside working all the day. Dinner was amazing. Jinshan restaurant is a locally famous seafood restaurant. Actually the local seafood is exciting due to the polluted Bohai sea. Its seafood is not as much as in southern China sea and Eastern China sea. Anyhow, this time we had the chance to eat crabs and more. We enjoyed a special room for the dinner. We drank white wine, red wine and beer. After dinner, some of us started Karaoke, singing popular songs. The hotel we stayed at is called Xinhua Holiday Hotel located in Beidaihe, very close to the beach. It is the tallest hotel in Beidaihe. The hotel is composed of two bulidings, east and west with 147 rooms. I was lucky to be arranged in a sea-view room. To my surprise, the room is equipped with internet broad band with easy access. It is very fast for surfing. I have a habit of walking after dinner. I didn't want to break it in Beidaihe. I took a walk around the beach near our hotel. Some section of the beach was lit up lined with lots of seafood restaurant. I forgot to take my camera to take some pictures of the scene at that time. I found there was bycle rental center. People can rent a bike and drive along the beach. The air was much fresher. I love Beidaihe! Next day we had to get up early to catch the 8:00-am cruising on the sea. The buffet breakfast at the hotel was good. We drove 30 minutes and got to the pier. It is a double body ship. So it should be very steady and smoothy cruising. The 40minutes's cruising is quite intereting. It is a double deck-ship. there were lots of people like us due to the May Day Holiday. Peope took pictures and talked happily with each other. After the cruising, I and four of our team went to the famous Shitonglu Market. It is a huge market, biggest in norther China, selling seafood and all kinds of life stuff. Through hard fighting and bargining, we got what we wanted. it seems bargining is much funny than the real stuff we want. Lunch was arranged at Jifa Farm Tour Center, a local well-noted area for experiencing farm fun. People come here to experience the picking of the seasonal fruits, and enjoy farm meals. We all enjoyed the meals very much. We started back to Beijing at 2:30pm. All of us hated to leave. On the way back to Beijing, we decided to visit Tanggu Port in Tianjin for the May Day holiday 2008! |
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