In the garden, a well-built advocate of hops, barley (and rice) raises a permanently foamy mug. Provided to China Daily

You can see a traditional brewing workshop with the original copper kettles, learn about yeast and the science of fermentation and discover the history of beer goes back thousands of years.

The visit costs 50 yuan and for that you'd expect a decent drop of the product at the end of your tour. But no, what you get is a derisory small glass of beer that is mostly foam.

However, prices in the Beer Bar are very reasonable and it's possible to buy jugs of the foaming nectar for 25 yuan.

In the Beer Hall, several parties were in full swing. Tour bus travelers sipped Tsingtao and ate free popcorn before heading off for their next attraction.

The city of Qingdao has a holiday atmosphere. It reminded me of the seaside resort of Blackpool in northwest England - except that in Blackpool girls wear Kiss Me Quick hats and hold hen parties, which last all weekend.

We stayed at the Old Observatory, a delightful, lofty hostel with views of the sea promised on a clear day, even though a mist shrouded the coast our entire visit.

The Saturday night barbecue sounded like great value. Food was free and you paid 20 yuan for as much Tsingtao draught beer as you could drink. When we arrived, fellow guests were tucking into a selection of salads while the electric barbecue stayed cold and bare. It remained that way. Apparently it was a vegetarian barbecue. Six pints later, we beer drinkers couldn't care less.

I should mention the street market below the Old Observatory. It wound its way down a narrow, pedestrians-only street for several hundred meters. There were dozens of stalls selling fruit and vegetables; live, fresh and cooked fish; knickers and socks; fresh meat; cutlery, hats, bags and glad rags.

There was barely room between stalls to squeeze past other shoppers. A merchant hauled a cart with four fat fish, each as plump as a woman's thighs.

I headed for the beach intending to have a swim. But I guess I went to the wrong beach. The sand was littered and the sea polluted with plastic bags.

However, Qingdao's German-style architecture was a delightful change from Beijing's modern brutalism.

You can contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.

By John Clark (China Daily)

Edited by Chen Zhilin