This is Work?

As promised, I finally made it to Yantai. Located on the Eastern tip of China southeast of Beijing and mere 300 miles west of North Korea, this is a medium to small coastal town of maybe one million people.

After some flight delays, we (our Asia Quality Manager, Frank and I) arrived Saturday night around midnight. I was pretty bummed because I lost that Saturday evening of checking out the city. But as it turned out, that may have actually been a blessing because I woke up Sunday morning to a fabulously blustery, cool morning and 31st floor view of the surrounding mountains and since it felt like a “Football Saturday” I immediately went into “high gear tourist” mode. After 100+ degrees in Xiangtan and 85 degrees with rain in Chengdu; this was a very nice change of pace!

Frank and I had a quick breakfast and headed out. The wind was absolutely howling. No exaggeration; it had to have been 25 – 30 MPH. Frank nearly fell down when the wind hit him. We walked the quarter mile from the hotel, crossed the main beach road and were standing on the Chinese Beach. Unbelievable views across the water to see several barrier islands containing large hills/small mountains. I started walking up the beach towards town. By the time we ran out of beach we had covered some four miles and Fran was worn out. He asked if I had a plan of where I was headed and I only pointed forward and answered “That way!” He wanted to get a taxi and drive into town and take a rest at some restaurant or tea shop and I answered that there was no way I was going to spend this beautiful windy beach day sitting in a tea shop. He could go if he wanted, but I was walking and being a tourist. He sighed and begrudgingly agreed. We walked some streets and finally did have to get a taxi so Frank could rest, but we had the driver drop us off along the downtown boardwalk and we walked some more.

The wind was driving the waves into the seawall so hard that they were splashing some 30 feet into the air. Many locals were out walking and taking pictures of the surf. The surf was violently wild and the wind was howlingly incredible. There was some trash on the beach. Pieces of fishing net, fishing bouys, bits of Styrofoam, etc. Frank commented that “the fishermen just throw their trash into the sea and now the sea is angry and giving it back!” I thought that an interesting perspective.

Eventually, we ended up in a restaurant for lunch and a short rest and then back at it. Frank thought I was insane. He was freezing and had not brought a jacket with him. I was in shirt sleeves (though I did wear pants) and ALL of the locals thought I was crazy to be out in only a short sleeve shirt. It was too much fun to be cold. But really, the temperature was in the 60’s, but of course the wind chill made it much cooler – but I didn’t care.  I did sunburn my bald head, though.

We did return to the hotel late afternoon to clean up for dinner. Frank didn’t really want to go out because “it’s too cold” (wimp). I offered to go alone, but trying to be the gracious Chinese host, he joined me. We had dinner at a seafood restaurant (of course), with one of the local team and picked out our dinner from the tanks. We didn’t eat the turtle, but I had to get this picture only because of the mallet sitting next to the tank. You can guess the purpose of the mallet, but at least you know your food is fresh even if a little, um, flattened!

The food? Not so spicy. Not near as spicy as Sichuan or Hunan food. But the ocean fish is much better than the river fish. So I guess it’s a give and take sort of thing.

The really interesting thing to me is that this may be the very cleanest city I have ever been in. It has kind of a Disney World feel to it. Not a scrap of trash or loose leaf on the ground anywhere to be found. While the people of Xiangtan have absolutely no respect for their land, these Yantai-ese people certainly do. It’s beautiful. And the architecture is not what I consider typical Chinese. Bright colors. Not much of a Russian styling as I might have expected since we are far north, but much more European influenced is what I am thinking. Tall spires with red/orange ceramic tile roofs similar to a Spanish design.

The flowers and hedges are precision trimmed and different colors are mixed to create geometric shapes and patterns. The mountains run down into the city (we drove through one very long tunnel) and then the city itself seems to flatten out right to the water. We could see on one hillside what appeared to be a monument of sorts with a large, low built white building with only one small wide window. And after some questions we learned it is an old WWII pill box used to fire upon the Japanese during their invasion of China (actually, 18 September is their local memorial for when the Japanese actually did invade and occupy China before WWII began).

Tuesday night we ate at a western style local place called Jackie’s. Tailored for the Expat, it’s like a mini Hard Rock, but situated on a hill facing the ocean with a great view of the water. Great décor and feel. But pricey. I have seen quite a few westerners in the hotel and there were some at Jackie’s, but surprisingly have seen very few around town.

One story from dinner (and a true story also) … Our waitress was a young girl whose English name is Mandy. I said to her, “Mandy? Such a beautiful name. My first girlfriend in the grade 8 was named Mandy.” She smiled very excited and replied “Really?” I said “Yes … and she broke my heart” (adding in a pout). She then changed to horrified expression and cried out “It wasn’t me; it wasn’t me!” I guess she thought that I thought it was her fault or something. Too funny.

The last two days have been spectacular weather. Clear blue skies, Temperatures in the 60’s and moderate breeze. Feels like a vacation.  We actually did go to the plant for work (and were very succesful in our efforts).  But the daily drive into town was almost too painful to describe ... we were forced to take the Ocean Road from our hotel to the city.  This road, unfortunately, winds along the coast next to the ocean so we had no choice but to watch the morning sun shining down upon the beach and glistening off the water as the locals spent their time fishing in small boats or crabbing around the exposed rocks during the low tide.  Man, I am not sure how we survived that drive each day!

So after only 3 days in town, I have to leave (ready to be home again!), but I do admit that Yantai is now on my list of “must see” cities in China. I recommend it to anyone. I would have thought Yantai would be a more popular place for the western tourist; but maybe not. I would like to return. Though I will say that based on its location sitting on a peninsula facing the sea, I suspect it is very brutally cold in the winter.  But not this week.

I think it’s best to just prove it to you by letting you see some of my pictures.

Artwork along Beach Road

Barrier Islands seen from the beach

Downtown with distant mountains from the beach

Driving in town

Beach view

From the Airplane (duh)





Standing next to the Black Pearl?

 



And I ask you ... “This is work?"