Whoa, Nelly.

We thought we should include this as a mini-update.

Qingdao has a large, green problem on its hands. Darbie and I were in Qingdao last weekend picking up some airplane tickets and visiting small "antique" street markets. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera along. I say unfortunately because, along the way we encountered the most disgusting/disturbing ocean event we've ever seen. It has just recently gotten hot in Qingdao (mid 80's), and the sun and heat have combined to give Qingdao a present, look below. Yes, that's the ocean. This gives new meaning to "rolling fields of green." The majority of Qingdao's coastline is covered in an algae blossom. And, it really, really stinks. This is, of course, where the sailing events for the Olympics are supposed to take place. The Olympic organizers have demanded this be cleaned up somehow. So, as we were riding on the bus along the coast, the road would back up all due to massive heaps of algae being scooped out of the ocean onto the roads. The stacks of algae were at least four feet tall, don't believe me? Here's an even taller one below.Yep, that's a large conveyor belt dumping algae into a giant, smelly pile. Besides not really having anything to do with all this algae, it doesn't look like they are really making a dent in it. I've seen algae in stagnant lakes and rivers, but never the ocean! Some part of us believes that pollution is playing a larger role in this than the government is admitting. The citizens of Qingdao are also down on the beach with shovels scooping up the tide. Let's hope they get this issue resolved soon.

If you're still interested, or just want to see more amazing pictures, check out this great article from the NY Times.

Stop polluting!

DB&KM

P.S. These pics are courtesy of AP Press. No, we didn't take a helicopter ride over the city.