My room rate included buffet breakfast (just extra 40 CNY or 5.5 USD over room-only rate) and I was impressed with the spread.

Part of the spread



Carbs and more carbs



I first knew the existence of Qingdao through its namesake beer so it made perfect sense to make visiting Tsingtao Beer Museum my only agenda here. Tsingtao was the old Wade-Giles spelling for the city; Qingdao is the Pinyin version used from 1958 onwards.

With the help of the local staff, I paid 80 CNY (~11 USD) for the museum entrance with 1-hour guided tour.

Waiting for the tour to start



Beside me, there were two middle-aged couples from Dongbei in the guided tour.

Tsingtao mascot Hajoyaa ("let's drink" in local Qingdao dialect and "ya" is the synonym for duck)



The original well which supplied Laoshan spring water to brew the first Tsingtao



Sculptures





There were two buildings with exhibits; building A was all about the brand's history.

Its logo featured the city landmark Huilan Pavilion, located at the end of Zhanqiao Pier, Qingdao's first wharf



Over 100 years between the two photographs



Map of early 20th century Qingdao



Soon after the Germans acquired this piece of territory in 1898, they decided that they would want to bring their beers to this part of the world as well. Together with British investors based in Hong Kong, the brewery began operation in 1903.

Blueprint of the factory



Began to win awards within a few years' of its existence



With the onset of World War I, Japan military took over Qingdao from the Germans and the brewery was eventually sold to the predecessor of Asahi Brewery and Sapporo Brewery in 1916. The Japanese were in control until end of World War II when the brewery became under Chinese state control.

Advertisements in the 1920s



Singapore was the first export market; letter from the distributor was dated in 1947



Tsingtao's advertisement in Singapore - appealing to overseas Chinese to support beer from the "motherland"



Chinese customs document for beers exported to Singapore



Back when China was still under command economy, workers were issued coupons for beer purchase



The guide was sharing the products produced by each factory; there are five alone in Qingdao



Tsingtao was the only corporate sponsor from Shandong for both Summer Olympics 2008 and Winter Olympics 2022



Qingdao locals buying draft Tsingtao beer in plastic bags



Beer-drinking ingrained in local culture



Walls showcasing Tsingtao products





We finished with Building A and stopped by the 100th anniversary sculpture for some photo-taking before proceeding to Building B.



Building B has some of the original brewing equipments as exhibits. The brewery was built with the equipments installed first and the exterior added afterwards.

The original Siemens motor from 1903



Beer brewing process





Hops, a key ingredient for brewing beers - Tsingtao uses mostly hops grown in Xinjiang now



"Alcohol from sky"



Original cask to store beers



Coming to the best part of the tour - tasting! It's already 5pm somewhere.



Mock-up of Qingdao's International Beer Festival



The building's still an active factory



Singapore's one of the export markets



Old bottling machine



Different labels over the year



The tour ended at the shop with Tsingtao-related merchandise.

Tsingtao-flavoured ice-cream anyone?



All sorts of merchandise



One more complimentary grapefruit-flavoured beer for the road







The attraction's pretty touristy but not a bad way to spend a few hours.



I didn't need to check out of the hotel until 2pm; it gave me plenty of time to charge all my devices as well as downloading videos and podcasts for the upcoming journey. After checking out, I went to have lunch at the mall next door.



Noodles topped with meat sauce



I also went to the supermarket to buy some snacks for the journey ahead.

Sauerkraut fish-flavoured chips



I gave myself plenty of time and headed to Qingdao Port three hours ahead.

On DiDi



Only passenger ship in sight



It took a while for Weidong Ferry's staff to figure out what to do with a passport that's neither Chinese nor Korean; once they confirmed that I had booked my ticket through WeChat and I didn't need a visa or K-ETA, I was issued my boarding pass.

Weidong Ferry counter on the left; the Qingdao tourist information counter wasn't manned for departing ferry



First time seeing core socialist values this trip



I went up the departure level and had to wait a while for immigration counters to be open at 3.30pm.





I had an interesting exchange with the Chinese immigration officer who asked for the Chinese characters of my name (which I declined to provide citing that they weren't on my passport) and if I was a former Chinese citizen (no). I guessed that they don't see that many Singaporeans traveling through here.



Despite the short distance, we had to take the shuttle bus between the terminal and the ship. It's probably faster for the passengers to walk instead.
Ferry name: Weidong Ferry New Golden Bridge V
Depart: Qingdao Cruise Home Port
Arrive: Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal
Type: Economy Bunk
Room / Bunk: 305-37
STD: 1730 (GMT+8)
STA: 1150 (GMT+9)
Duration: 17h20m
Distance: 328nm (~607km)
Cost: 420 CNY + 12.6 CNY (3% foreign card fee) - ~59 USD
Going up to the escalator



Lobby



The route



Weidong Ferry operates two routes between China and South Korea; beside our ferry from Qingdao, there's also service from Weihai.

The receptionist gave me a South Korean arrival card for visitors as well as the customs form and requested me to fill them up immediately. She would check and even complimented me that it was rare for someone to fill up everything correctly the first time.

There weren't too many passengers; I overheard that there was only around 100 travellers that day.

There were also two distinct groups on the ferry:-

The first group was made up of South Korean tourists who were returning home after their group tour of Qingdao. They were staying in the private cabins and had their meals included.

The second group were Chinese travellers heading to South Korea and most of them were assigned the same room as me. When I booked my ticket, only bunk beds were available and I was assigned to the biggest room 305 on 5F. I reckoned that it could hold over 70 passengers.



Bunk 37



There was a weird vibe as it seemed that most of them knew one another and they were distributing boxes of beauty products between themselves. One of them even came up to me and said that travellers into South Korea have duty-free alcohol and tobacco allowance and offered to pay me if I could help bring duty-free goods into Korea for them. Of course I declined immediately.

Sunset in Qingdao



Basking in the winter sunset



We set sail at 5.30pm sharp and there was mobile internet connection for at least the first hour or so.



Qingdao by night



Soon after we set sail, the duty-free shop and convenience stall both opened.



I spent the rest of the evening listening to downloaded podcasts and fall asleep by 10pm.