Douye's World Tour ⑤ – Qixi Festival: One Day and One Night in Laoshan

📍 Qingdao · 👁 1 reads · ❤️ 77 likes

Happiness is bubbling up from your bones

From three single girls to three families, I'm so thankful that we've stayed together all these years.

Ever since Mai Dou turned two, I've always wanted to take him out to explore more before he starts kindergarten.

This was his last weekend before entering kindergarten, and it happened to be Qixi Festival. We went to an indoor children's playground and booked a B&B in Laoshan.

The three families gathered together — eating, singing, playing cards, tide pool exploring, and splashing in the water.

Our tailor-made Qixi getaway was just pure bliss.

🏠 Eureka Children's Playground

❤ Tickets were pre-booked online: one adult and one child for a full day at ¥279.

❤ The floor above the playground has restaurants. With little ones, we chose Xibei Youmian Village, where they have kids' meals — one portion was just right for a child. Meal for two: ¥119.

🏠 Jingmi Shiguang (Tranquil Time) B&B

❤️ Again, we booked online. It's a courtyard with three rooms, perfect for three families, sleeping about 8 people.

❤️ Total cost: ¥2,166, no deposit.

❤️ Auntie Xiaona bought snacks, fruit, and drinks in advance. Snacks: ¥504; fruit & drinks: ¥60.

❤️ To celebrate Qixi, Auntie Tongtong prepared a special cake for everyone: ¥320.

❤️ Lunch: On the way back, we found this seaside restaurant with a superb ocean view, and we lucked into an extra-low tide. Total meal cost: ¥680.

❤️ Dinner: There were quite a few farmhouse restaurants near the hotel. The host recommended a good-value one — reasonable prices, tasty food. Six adults and two kids ordered 11 dishes, total: ¥480.

🌿 Location / Features 🌿

🌈 Eureka Children's Playground

✨ Located on the 3rd floor of Kaide Shopping Plaza, Shibei District, Qingdao, inside the mall.

✨ Comfortable play environment; anything you need to buy or use is readily available. No worries about safety — the mall is full of surveillance cameras, so children are relatively very safe.

✨ Situated in Liuqinghe Community, Laoshan District, Qingdao, just 50 metres from the sea, a two-minute walk.

✨ It's a B&B facing the sea, with spring flowers blooming. Perfect for kids to play in the sand and explore tide pools, and they can meet many peers in the village — a great experience.

🌈 Eureka Children's Playground

✨ Parking is a no-brainer: just park in the underground lot of Kaide Plaza.

✨ Before entering the underground parking, you need to show your health QR code and have your temperature taken; masks required inside the mall.

🌈 Jingmi Shiguang B&B

✨ Cars can be parked in the seaside car park. If you arrive early, you can drive right to the village entrance. We happened to snag the very last parking spot — felt incredibly lucky.

✨ The B&B host will come out in advance to greet you and enthusiastically help with luggage and opening the door.

✨ If you check in late, you can also park in the free seaside car park — no charges whatsoever.

✨ Along the coastal road, there are plenty of farmhouse restaurants with fair prices and good flavours.

Eureka Children's Playground

Ever since Mai Dou was tiny, I've loved taking him to explore indoor playgrounds across Qingdao. After all, little ones need to meet new friends and socialise, and he always has a blast.

My first impression of Eureka? That piano-shaped slide! Many friends had brought their kids here, and this time we finally brought Mai Dou to check it out.

It was a weekend, so there were kids of all ages — noisy but happily playing together. From mid-morning on, I turned into the shopkeeper lady, directing Mai Dou and other little kids to welcome their little customers.

Time with children is always joyful and fleeting.

Mai Dou rode the small train three times and played two rounds of interactive games. The playground is spacious enough; watching kids let loose there lifted my mood without even trying.

Because he had so much fun, he refused to nap at noon. When we left the playground and met up with Mai Dou's dad, the little guy was fast asleep in my car.

When Mai Dou opened his eyes, we had already arrived at the Jingmi Shiguang B&B.

Standing on the little path in front of the B&B, a glance ahead: just 50 metres away, the sea! The scene was straight out of a movie or a novel — breathtakingly beautiful.

On Qixi night, this little village was extra lively. Nearly every B&B was full. Some guests sang loudly outside their doors, others toasted with friends on rooftops.

The eight of us cut the sweet cake, ate a delicious dinner, and after the two little ones went to sleep, the three dads stayed up on the rooftop, chatting from life dreams to the enduring grandeur of mountains and rivers. Then, with enthusiastic invitation (and a bit of coaxing and arm-twisting) from Ms Xu and me, the four of us played mahjong until daybreak.

From the moment they arrived at the B&B, the two kids were running up and down around the ball pit and the big slide.

Because it was a privately-run B&B, the slide was a touch steep and the ball pit a bit small, but that didn't dampen the kids' joy at all.

Older brother Xiucheng, being the elder, wasn't scared of the steep slide; little Mai Dou was still so small that he mostly played on the steps.

The two children invented all sorts of games: throwing balls, dragging big pillows up and down, bouncing around in the loft — just pure happiness.

I opened my eyes to a bright, sunshiny sky. I walked through the courtyard to the kitchen, steamed a pot of congee, boiled some eggs and the leftover sweet potato baozi from last night — and the kids' breakfast was ready.

Just as the pot was bubbling, Auntie Xiaona got up and made delicious noodles, paired with ham that Brother Hao brought.

After a hearty breakfast, we split into two groups: Xiucheng and Mai Dou led a team of four to hit the beach for a sand-digging campaign. Meanwhile, Brother Dong led the other four, staying back at the B&B to continue their mahjong.

Because the B&B is right in Liuqinghe Community, stepping out of the community takes you straight to Liuqinghe Beach. A three- to five-minute walk.

When we got to the shore, we realised it was ebb tide — the water was receding step by step, absolutely perfect for little ones to play.

At first, the two little treasures just dug in the dry sand, but then they stumbled upon tiny fish and baby crabs trapped in the retreating tidal pools. On a whim, they switched to crab-catching mode.

Later, Teacher Qu, Auntie Tongtong, and Brother Dong all joined in. We found lots of seashells, tiny fish, and crabs, but because they were so small, we let them all go.

And just like that — catching and releasing, releasing and catching — midday quietly crept up on us.

We rushed back to the B&B, rinsed off, changed into fresh clothes, packed up, and headed to our next stop.

Driving from Liuqinghe back toward the city, the scenery along the way was absolutely stunning. Ms Xu's car twisted around a few bends, crossed a narrow little bridge, and rolled out onto a dock.

The first thing we saw: the tide had receded way, way out, exposing vast patches of damp sand.

Blue sky, white clouds, sand, and an unobstructed seafront — truly beautiful beyond words.

By the time we reached this harbour-side restaurant perched at the dock, it was nearly past lunchtime, so the place was almost empty. Our group of eight commandeered the only tatami table.

We settled in, waited for the food, and then tucked in with gusto. Honestly, the wheat-based dishes were amazingly tasty, and the seafood was ultra-fresh — proof that 'living by the sea means feeding on the sea' is no empty phrase.

After the meal, we looked out the window at the sea again. The tide had pulled out even farther.

Lots of people were tide pool combing, and on the other side of the bridge, fishermen were raking for clams.

Auntie Tongtong was the first to want to go down, then me, then Mai Dou. Armed with our sand bucket, shovel, and salt, we headed down.

Back on the beach, we found it was exactly like people say online: the freshly exposed sand was dotted with little holes.

We sprinkled a bunch of salt, but nothing magical happened. Then Auntie Tongtong called us over from further away — they'd caught loads of big crabs!

We hurried over to the tidal pool edge and saw Brother Dong's sand bucket filled to the brim with crabs.

That's when we caught on: in the tide pools left behind by the receding water, rocks were everywhere. Flip over any stone, and a dozen palm-sized crabs would scuttle out.

I used to love catching tiny crabs by the Zhanqiao Pier, thinking they were plenty satisfying. This time, it was practically just picking crabs up — flip a rock and grab handfuls.

We spent over an hour tide pool combing and returned with a big bucket full of crabs. Totally fulfilled.

So much so that when we got home that evening, Teacher Qu steamed some and stir-fried others to snack on.

I didn't dare try them myself — not sure if they were really tasty. But the tide pool experience itself was absolutely satisfying.

Travelogue Contents

1. Far away, the Herdboy Star; bright, the Weaving Girl of the River of Heaven

2. My Travel ❤ Useful Tips

3. The One Day / Mountains don't reject dust

4. The Two Day / Rivers never tire of receiving streams

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