Qingdao (Part 2)

We had lunch at a posh restaurant perched over the cliff overlooking the Yellow Sea. One walks to the back display area to order the seafood, which is one of Qingdao's specialty, and they are cooked fresh from the tanks. There were 3 of us, and we each had 2 scallops, a shell fish delicacy covered in steamed egg (photo), a fish, roasted duck, grilled pork, and a dish of veggie (photo 2).

My host said that wages are still cheap in Qingdao; the waiters are paid S$50/month, but their lodging and food are catered for. Our sumptous meal cost us a grand total of S$32, nope, not each, but altogether! As Guangzhou and Shanghai get more expensive, the manufacturers move up north. The day will come when Qingdao becomes expensive too, and then the investors will move further up north, to Mongolia maybe. But for now, Qingdao has the largest number of Korean expats than anywhere else in China, 50-70,000 of them. Our plane in had carried all announcements in Mandarin, English and Korean. They are fond of dog meat, so it's easy to find them in Qingdao. But come 2008, when the city play host to the sailing events of the Olympics, they will clamp down on that for a while. But not now...

I asked for rice, and my host smiled. "In the north," he said, "they ask for rice only at the end of a meal. If you want rice at the start, they'll know you're not local." I didn't care. I was enjoying one of my best meal in a while. And pass me that Tsing Tao beer please...
Chup