Pancakes wrapped in sea breeze, my days strolling in Shandong (Day 4 - Rizhao)

A beautiful day begins again Today's itinerary: morning market visit, afternoon at Wanpingkou Gate 3 Beach. The Guanjia Village Market in Rizhao is a historic and lively market, open on the 1st, 11th, 21st, 6th, 16th, and 26th days of the lunar calendar. We were lucky to catch it on an open day. Guanjia Village is 15 kilometers from where we stayed. Although it's rural, the road there is a well-equipped city road, so it didn’t feel like leaving the city at all. The village road is narrow, and just as I worried about parking, I turned a corner and found a dedicated parking lot on the yellow earth next to the market—what a relief! The variety of goods sold here is impressive, including fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood, and other agricultural products, as well as various clothing and daily necessities. I even saw a nearly ten-meter-long stall selling all kinds of fabrics! There were also some special snacks like twisted fried dough sticks, candied hawthorn, and roasted seeds. A fun sight was the chickens for sale—not caged but tied by the legs with ropes, standing alert and looking around. The market was bustling with people, shoulder to shoulder. The vendors’ shouts, loudspeaker calls, and customers’ bargaining created a warm and lively market atmosphere—this is the true spirit of a market. I love visiting markets; it feels like a treasure hunt, always expecting to find countless delightful treasures to buy! As we browsed and asked around, the prices were incredibly cheap. Since most products are sold directly by local farmers, prices are relatively low. Beautiful Provence tomatoes were 2 yuan per jin, sweet melons sold for 5 yuan per jin at the farmers’ market but here 10 yuan for 4 jin, and big apples were 3 yuan per jin. Seeing clams sold at only 5 yuan for 2 jin, my mom said, "Why bother going clam digging?" But I thought it’s different! Clam digging is about the experience and ritual! Otherwise, why would Liujiawan Clam Digging Park in Rizhao charge 40 yuan per person and still attract crowds? During the May Day holiday, the park even made headlines for spreading clams on the beach for visitors to pick! After a round of shopping, we bought hairtail fish, snails, vegetables, and seasonal Shandong fruits: cherries, mulberries, sweet melons, apricots, and Provence tomatoes, spending a total of 72 yuan. After a nap, we headed to Wanpingkou Gate 3 Scenic Area at 4:30 pm when the sun was less intense. This scenic area is famous for its unique landscapes and photo spots, with main attractions including: Special Wedding Park: the core area of Gate 3, designed based on French garden style, featuring 20 themed environments like the Love Flower Bed, Heart Bridge, and Mountain Oath. Rainbow Square: a popular photo spot with many scenes such as grass house swings, sky frame, seaside bus, and sky stairs. Sunshine Lawn: a vast green space offering a great place for visitors to relax, picnic, play, and enjoy the sunshine, beach, and blue sky with white clouds. Special Architecture: the area also has many unique buildings, like the Ruyi Bridge, a semi-suspended glass and aluminum alloy structure full of modern design concepts. You can rent an electric cart or stroll along the beach (the beach isn’t long; it takes about an hour to walk from end to end), fully enjoying the sunshine and sea breeze, feeling the romance and tranquility of the seaside. Next to the Gate 3 parking lot is the Rizhao Kaiyuan Senbo Resort Hotel, with a tree nest design that looks quite innovative and magical from afar at dusk!