One more clothing item to envy.

I forgot to post this earlier. These are the fantastic little socks that all the Chinese ladies wear. At first we were laughing at how ugly they were - like miniature panty hose with a cuff - but then Caitlin bought everyone a pair and we wore them to the Terracotta Warriors. Turns out, they are the most comfortable socks ever! And they prevent blisters, and keep your feet from sweating. Damn China, why can’t you export this clever little invention? No worries, I’m exporting them myself.

Last day at the beach.

I’m headed back to Beijing today to spend a few more days before my flight to London. I haven’t gotten in that much beach time because we’ve had some rain, so I got up early to spend the morning on the shore. I think it was the first time I’ve been somewhere in China that actually smells good. It was quite lovely. And of course I got to enjoy some more of the insanity of a China beach, and I would like to share a few of the things that you do not want to miss if you ever visit one:

Water.

Sand.


Face masks.


Sand angels.


Leg lifts.


Push ups.


Buried children.

Chicken.


Weight lifting.


And my personal favorite...smoking while exercising.

Squid on a Stick.

We are staying in a town on the coast, so I felt obligated to try one of the many sea dwelling creatures that they serve grilled on a stick. I think this is squid, and it was pretty tasty. It went well with my favorite yogurt popsicle that I have been buying like a fiend in Qingdao after being deprived of them in Shanghai. China needs to get its popsicle distribution system in order, I can’t be having to search around for these pops.

Monday.

It was raining all day today so we decided to do something indoors. Like a movie! Unfortunately, that meant we had to see Transformers 2. I would have picked almost any other movie over that except for, like, Ice Age 3 in 3D.
Oh wait, that was the only other choice.
So we watched Transformers 2 with Chinese subtitles, and discovered the most interesting thing about Chinese movie theaters: assigned seats! That’s right, you get to choose your seat when you buy a ticket and then your seat number is printed on it. This system would normally not work out for me at all because I’m always late to movies, but since we didn’t know the times before we got there we were insanely early. Best seats in the house for the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Oh well, it was worth it to hear the guy next to us cheering whenever something blew up. That’s my people.

Letter to Beds.

Dear China,
Why are all of your beds so hard? I would very much like to visit the rock quarry where you mine your mattresses from, because I didn’t realize it was possible to create a box spring out of solid stone. There are a few things I won’t miss when I go home, China, and back pain is one of them.

Dreaming of feathertops,
Kelly

I've declared my independence from drinking out of cups.

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Turns out there aren't very many celebrations to attend in China which honor the birth of American independence, but we did eat meat on a stick for breakfast, drank a beer from a bag, and saw one floating paper candle in the sky... which is kind of like a firework? Oh, and as I was sitting here blogging, a nice Chinese couple just gave me a slice of watermelon. Couldn't ask for much more. Hope your day is filled with BBQ, cold beverages, and friends.

Beer by the Bag.

We have discovered the most amazing thing about Qingdao. Beer by the bag. That’s right, because the Tsingdao brewery (its pronounced the same as the city just a different spelling because they were trying out an earlier form of pinyin at the time) is based here, beer is even cheaper and more accessible than other cities we’ve been to. The corner stores take a plastic bag like you get in the produce section, fill it with beer and put a straw in the top. They sell it by weight, and 1 kilo costs about 50 cents. Good lord, the trip may be all down hill from here.