Day III (II): Shops, Sushi, & Sgt. Pepper's

Monday continued with trip to the shopping district of Qingdao. Wandering through the old city was, to quote both my Grandmother and Timothy Leary, "A trip". As I mentioned before, the city was once occupied by the Germans, who left not only their "mystic yeatst" but also alot of anomolous Bravarian architecture scattered throughout the city. The juxtapostion of pagoda rooves and European chalets bordered on un-nerving, but in a funky "I don't know what continent I'm on" kind of way. But anyway, the shopping was good. Among the more notable of the group's purchases were red underwear (for luck in the New Year) cheeeeeap CD's, a $2 copy of "Yellow Submarine" with Chinese all over the album cover (can't find that at Best Buy) which I purchased to commemorate a performance given in a karaoke club the night before. Also some classic red New Years Lanterns, and a giant Cookie Monster who instantly became the trip mascot. Hmmm, Red lanters, Yellow Submarines, and Blue Muppets, all the primary colors covered. Shopping deemed successful. We advanced to the next mission: food!



Sushi on a Belt!

We had a fun lunch at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant where small plates of sushi slowly floated by our booth and we nabbed all the tasty looking ones until our stack of plates towered above our heads. I'd done this once before in Tokyo and enjoyed it just as much, if not more, this time around. It's like the exact opposite of a drive through. You remain stationary as your food parades past you in a calvacade of courses. I'm surprised American hasn't picked up on this yet. What would be better suited to our penchant for inactive eating? Next to an I.V. drip, conveyor belt service is the best way to go for inert nourishment! If only you could Supersize Sushi...

Having exhausted our feet and cash flows for the day we returned to the Hotel to enjoy some of the amenities, namely the pool and sauna. Then, while the others opted for KFC, I decided to indulge 5-Star style. I had a hot bath, put on my big Regency robe and slippers, ordered room service, and turned on Oprah. I emerged fully refreshed and ready for a night out. So went the evening.

I was told the plan was to go to "The Lennon Bar" and upon hearing the name the first time, I wasn't completely sure it wasn't perhaps "The Lenin Bar", hey it's Communist China after all. But I was relieved to find it was a bar commemorating the musician, not the Marxist, and we ended up having a great time. We had the place almost completely to ourselves, played pool, fooseball, connect-four, and had popcorn catching competitions until the weeeeeeee hours of the morning. At one point Eddie and Edgar even played a sweet set of guitar and drum music on the live stage. And to top it all off I ordered myself a "Yellow Submarine". I love trips with trends!