ABSTRACT
In the fall of 2006 some visiting American friends and I traveled to Qingdao and Dalian, both cities on the northeast coast facing the Yellow Sea. Quingdao, site of the Olympic kayaking events, would suffer the misfortune of an invasion of seaweed that would take over the entire coastline just prior to the 2008 opening ceremonies. But on this occasion the sea was merely polluted, as usual. I also got to see some of China’s Jade country. Due to the economic irregularities of the boyfriend of my Chinese friend who was our de facto tour guide and translator, we had to go with the two-star package. Granted, we were allowed to see the same wonderful sights (or at least glimpse them through the bus window) and visit the same wonderful places (or at least drive past them in our bus with the broken air conditioning) as the three-star package, but when it came to cuisine and accommodations, this excursion managed to leave a lot to be desired.
