Jinan - boy

Presently Jinan is one large building site and the air feels thick and the visibility is low because of it - I imagine it will look shiny and new in a few years, possibly. The city did however furnish us with a very comfortable hotel and the best meals so far in China. So simple: put vegetables and noodles in a basket; hand over and pay; wait at table for large steaming bowl of selected groceries with creamy peanut dip flavoured with your own choice of herbs and spices.

 

A day's excursion to the hamlet Zujiayu gave me the joy of a plate of scorpions and the juvenile thrill of lighting a chain of bangers for 50p, though C thought I was crazy for spending this much. The hamlet itself turned out not to have much charm, just a few pushy fruit sellers, so we headed back to the main road and flagged down a bus bound for Jinan. After all our train ticket shenanigans the intercity buses were surprisingly hassle free. No crowds at the bus stations and very friendly staff.