Day 12: Continue to Penglai on the Yellow Sea

Distance: 66 km Travel time: 03:31

Day 12 : In sunshine and 34 degrees, we drive along the coast to Penglai and leave Bohai Bay behind us. Finally, we pass busy beaches and better developed promenades. Fortunately, there is less industry to see, apart from a few building ruins. The Yellow Sea begins east of Penglai...

On the way, Komoot leads us into dead ends again (this time there are three of them), which make our journey longer than necessary (but it's good that we were there). On the last 10 km, hills rise up in front of us and we can enjoy the view over the sea and various bays. During the journey we are accompanied by thousands upon thousands of dragonflies, which can be found almost everywhere.

Penglai is known as a "wonderland" because of a legend that says eight immortals settled on a mountain here a long time ago. There are many stories and tales about these superhumans. There are many historical sites, some of which are over 1000 years old, and excursion boats sail to the islands in the bay several times a day. The city is fully developed for tourism and since it is holiday time in China, it is like a madhouse here.

As soon as it gets cooler in the evening, people head out onto the streets and the beach promenade. For reasons I cannot explain, where there are the most people, many seem to enjoy performing as soloists on the street and, equipped with loudspeakers, they sing boldly into the microphone in karaoke style. A few meters further on, the next person is belting out their song, sometimes rocky-pop or classical-slow music. I am not sure what these protagonists are aiming for, but it is noticeable that the speakers and their volume are getting steadily bigger - is there some kind of competition going on? After a few hundred meters, luckily, it becomes quieter again...