We were supposed to go to Weifang this past weekend, but decided against it for some reason. Don't know why, but we ended up having a great Saturday anyway. Gary had to do some tutoring on Saturday morning, so I went hiking up Fushan or Mountain Fu with a couple of students, Herry or Fan Chenglei and Li Na. This is us at the start of our hike. The Chinese people always bring snacks to eat when they hike. To them it is a picnic, too.
This is me at the top of one of the peaks. There are actually 9 peaks along this mountain. We went to the top or near the top (some you cannot actually get to the top of unless you want to go rock climbing without the ropes) of 6 of them. This is peak number two we hiked.
I thought this rock was pretty neat. In front of the rock is a rounded dent which is blackened. It actually looks like the rock roll down the side of the hill and then was pushed back up. This is peak number 3.
This is peak number two looking at it from peak number 3. I did not know we were going to go so far, but Herry kept saying "Do you want to try this one," and I kept saying, "Why not!" Li Na was great and just kept following us as we kept moving to the next peak.
We thought this set of rocks was pretty cool. Another Chinese person took our picture.
Oh, no, the rock is going to crush me! Just kidding. I hope I didn't scare anyone too badly. This was almost at the top of peak 4.
We all had to scramble through these two rocks. It was one of the ways to the next peak. The other way was even harder than this one, but we managed. I didn't even feel claustrophobic like I thought I might. This was peak 6. I forgot to take pictures of peak 5 because we could not get to the top of it. Herry and I tried, but then decided it was too dangerous.
We actually saw some people repelling on the side of one of the peaks. It was pretty cool. I would have loved to have gone and done it with them. Although the drop was like 100 feet, sooo maybe not.
We found this Buddha situated under a rock on the backside of peak 6. I am not sure how someone got it up there (with a lot of effort, I am sure) because the mountainside was pretty steep.
The above is a fire hole we also found on the backside of peak 6. It is not far from the Buddha.
This is a picture of the backside of Fushan. We started on the end on the right on the other side of the mountain. Our school is located on the other side. We took the back way down and ended up on the other side of Qingdao city. As I said the first time we hiked the mountain, this mountain is right in the middle of the city. You can see city all around you when you get to the top of any of the peaks. We started out at 9 am and I did not get back to my apartment until 1 pm. I had a lot of fun, but the next day my hips were very sore from trying to get onto some of the big rocks.
I rested at home for about an hour and then Gary and I went with Herry to Badaguan. We met a couple more of my students when we were there.
Badaguan is an older part of Qingdao where the most of the homes have been converted into hotels or guest houses. The architecture is amazing. Not one house is the same. There is German, European, Danish, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese architecture here. There are 8 main streets to walk on. Hence the name, Ba means 8. I have been there twice and Gary has been there 3 times and we still have not walked on every street.
This is one of the many park areas in Badaguan. This is full of cedar trees that are very, very tall. Badaguan is near Bathing Beach Number 2, so we always end up there after we have walked the streets. I love going to the beach. The tide was out, so there were many tide pools to look in and see if we could find and sea creatures.
These are some sort of clam. They attach themselves to the rocks and other things during high tide. During low tide, many Chinese go out and use a rock to knock them of and then take them home for dinner.
The next three pictures are of little crabs the three kids found. The girls had no problem picking them up. They all got very excited when they could find one. They wanted me to put them in my hand. I can eat a bug, but I can't pick up a crab. I know, pretty weird.
Any they found three. Two were about the size of a fifty cent piece. The other one was the size of a quarter.
The poor little crab had its left claw pulled off, accidentally, by Herry. He was not happy with himself. We kidded him that he did it so he could rehabilitate the crab. Herry's major is physical therapy and rehabilitation. He actually got the joke. It was pretty funny.
This is us at the end of one of the piers. Once we got done at the beach, we walked back to find a place to eat. Gary had to go tutor again. We took a bus. Gary, Herry and I left the girls and went to a place were we got dumplings and some other really good Chinese food. Herry treated us. Afterwards, he bought us some dessert, too. The Chinese people are so generous. We tried to help pay, but Herry insisted that he wanted to treat us. Even when we try to treat our Chinese friends, they end up paying for us. Some day we will be able to return the favor.
It was a wonderful day!
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