Cheap Whine: Quick Trip to Qingdao

The boys and Kenny had a couple of days off for Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Cake Day because everyone eats moon cakes. Here's a quick explanation of the holiday:

Falling on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Mid-Autumn Festival is the second grandest festival after the Spring Festival in China. It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season. The day is also known as the Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest.

We decided to make the quick trip to the coastal city of Qingdao, China which is known for being named "China's most livable city". It's situated on the Yellow Sea and is home to Tsingtao Brewery, famous throughout China and I guess the world, although I'd never heard of it until we moved here. It also hosted some of the 2008 Olympic sailing events. The Germans occupied Qingdao from 1898 - 1922 and it's obvious in its architecture. Per Wikipedia, the German occupation wasn't all bad:

Upon gaining control of the area, the Germans outfitted the impoverished fishing village of "Tsingtao" (Qingdao) with wide streets, solid housing areas, government buildings, electrification throughout, a sewer system and a safe drinking water supply, a rarity in large parts of Asia at that time and later.^[8] The area had the highest school density and the highest per capita student enrollment in all of China, with primary, secondary and vocational schools funded by the Imperial German treasury and Protestant and Roman Catholic missions.^[8] Commercial interests established the Germania Brewery in 1903, which later became the world-famous Tsingtao Brewery. German influence extended to other areas of Shandong Province, including the establishment of diverse commercial enterprises.

Our trip got off to a rough start when we arrived at the airport to discover we didn't have tickets. Apparently our credit card flagged the ticket charge as fraudulent, but no one told us. All we knew was that we had an email "confirmation" which wasn't really a confirmation at all. Part of daily life in China. One of the reasons Kenny is so good at his job is that he doesn't take "no" for an answer. After a lengthy phone call, tickets for the same afternoon were supposedly purchased (I confirmed this with a phone call to our credit card before heading back to the airport). Our trip was cut a little short, but since it's only an hour flight, it was still worth going. Qingdao is a beautiful city with fresh air, fresh seafood and was a nice little getaway.