Qingdao is the closest large city to Weifang, being that Weifang is close to a million when I say large city I mean 9million. So how to get there. I had arrived at the airport at Qingdao when I arrived in China, James had been there to pick me and so I had driven home from Qingdao only once.
My first trip to Church. We picked up tickets for the first train to Qingdao Sunday morning the afternoon before. Sunday morning we got started a little late and had to book it to the front gate. A true blessing from the Lord was that a Taxi had just dropped off someone and we were able to take it to the train station, mind you this is six in the morning.
We met Katie and Thomas and had about 10min to spare before the train rolled into the station. When I first saw the train it looked like it had just rolled out of the 50’s and by the condition of it I don’t doubt it did. We had to take the slow train into Qingdao as the fast train does not run earlier enough. The 2½ hour ride was just another great experience for the journal. At times I really felt we were about to derail. Adam assured us that was a nothing to be afraid of, that was just the way the trains ran.
Weifang to Qingdao - Slow Train
The great thing about train and plane tickets for that matter is that all the vital information is given in numbers! Train K69 will be departing on September 6, 2009 at 6:37 (China runs on a 24 hour clock so it is a safe guess that this is am) and the ticket will cost ¥29.00. I truly do appreciate the fact that the cities are given in English (it is not Pinyin as it has capital letters and no tone markers).
Once at Qingdao we rushed to pick up tickets for our return trip that evening. A real down side of Chinese Railways is that you can only purchase tickets from a station at the departing station. So it is easiest to purchase the return ticket upon arrival to insure a seat rather than wait until you plan to return. So rushing through the Train Station to purchase return tickets was a chore in itself, trying not to lose anyone. Luckily we all stick out and with Dantzelle’s bright blond hair you really can’t miss her.
Once return tickets were purchased we had a healthy jaunt to the bus stop about a half a mile up the beach. There was a few slight disagreements as to which bus we needed but finally we boarded the 501 and were back on our way. On our 45min. ride on the 501 we got a small glimpse of the German quarter of town which is beautiful. Qingdao was originally a German Concession around the time of the Boxer Rebellion. It is known throughout Asia for its beer. Not that I have any first hand experience in that department. We switched to the 104 bus at the University and finally arrived at the Apartment complex for Church.
So the journey began at 6:00am and we arrived at 10:15! We were a few minutes late but with the bus route figured out we should have a few minutes to spare next Sunday.
Qingdao to Weifang - Fast Train
The Return trip was shorter! We were able to get tickets on the fast train home which only took 1hour and 15min. Again all the pertinent is in Numbers or English!
Fast Train to Weifang
Katie and Thomas Harper - Fast Train Home
We even received assigned seating for this ride which was a nice plus. No fighting for seats together. The fast train was 1st class in comparison to the Slow train. I almost felt I was in a plane by the looks of it.We had tray tables and seats that reclined they only thing missing was the seat belt and seat belt light. This is one ride I wish there were seat belts, just to keep the kids from out of the aisles! I was trying to read and they kept running by and bumping into the seats.
Trash Bags...right
When I first say paper bags in the seat pocket in front of me I thought they were barf bags. I turned to Thomas and Katie and asked how fast this train was going to go. Then I pulled the bags out and realized they were trash bags, my bad.
So from start to finish it was a long day, 6:00 – 20:00. But well worth it! Although as nice as the fast train was my wallet will most likely be seeing the slow train on most Sundays.