Day I: Chow Chow

"Eddie the Scorpion Tamer"
We arrived in China and were picked up by our Hotel (ahem.. the 5-Star Grand Regency... schweeeeet) Getting to our rooms I did what any 5-star hotel guest would do. I put on the big cushy bathrobe and slippers, turned on HBO, and jumped from bed to bed with giggly girlish glee. Then it was time for lunch. We met a friend of Beth's, Hao who had been studying in New Zealand for the last few years. He and his mother who, serendipitously enough, happened to be a travel agent, took us to a restaurant that had at least 150 dishes on display for us to choose from. We wandered around gazing upon plates of braised tofu to glazed turtle (shell and all), octopus legs and shark fin, even baby scorpions for a crunchy light snack. We pointed warily to a couple different dishes, ranging on a gradual scale of what would push the fortitude of our palates. Then we went upstairs and were seated at a round table with large lazy-susan in the center. Like eating off a merry-go-round, everyone gets a spin! Weee! First Course: Tsingtao Beer! Our first taste of the ale that made Qingdao famous and its German occupiers rich. They loaded up the table with steaming posts of seafood soup, plates of stirfried mushrooms and sauteed veggies, steamed dim sum buns, crispy fried green tea leaves, and as a finale, dog stew. Normally I'm a valiant culinary adventurer, but this little vegetarian abstained from feasting on Fido, and I feel no worse for having missed the canine course, although I'm told it was Great(...Dane). *I apologize for the pun, the most base form of humor, but please allow one more.* Just because it's a Chow breed doesn't mean...well you get it.