They make that beer here!

Qingdao struck me as refreshingly manageable by Chinese standards—a seaside town of about ten million people, which felt almost intimate after the vast sprawl of inland cities. We spent our time wandering along the waterfront, letting the sea breeze clear our heads and watching the rhythm of a coastal city that somehow felt slower than the rest of the country.

The running here was excellent—the seafront paths gave us room to stretch our legs properly, and there was something energizing about pounding pavement with the ocean as our backdrop. I found myself thinking about the famous beer that's brewed here, wondering if the brewers chose this place for the same reasons we were enjoying it: the light, the air, the sense of space that Qingdao somehow preserves despite its size.