EW

Qingdao does a stout beer. As in one that doesn't taste like diluted water. Who knew?

Yesterday was both Boram's and Julian's birthdays. Boram's was celebrated on Friday evening and Saturday morning and Julian's in the evening, which fitted nicely. For Boram's we went to a bar and tried to get her drunk on absinthe (I have a video of her and Becka drinking it and someone obnoxious ok me is boorishly shouting encouragement from the safety of a qingdao beer bottle). We also had a cake fight outside. Chinese cakes are mostly cream so they make for great missiles. Then we had a beer fight. And so, covered in cream and beer, we proceeded to the hole named 夜潮 (Night Dynasty) which is a nightclub. Becka and I got hit on within 5 minutes and thus left in another 5. Rather disturbingly outside were a collection of 12 year old girls in pretty dresses selling roses. I asked one where she was from, (Anhui- a poor inland province) and when I asked about her parents she ran off. Julian asked another when they slept if they worked all night and she said they slept in daytime so no school there then. Today's flower sellers, tomorrow's prostitutes.

I had to work early the next day (because I'm stupid) and after blearily washing the cake from my hair and dragging myself to work and back, it was time for dimsum with Boram. Dimsum can be nice, but it is rather oily and greasy at times. I had a mango pudding that was rather eggy. All Chinese desserts seem to be based on egg. There was not much conversation. Whilst I had retreated at 2am, the others had been at KTV until 5am+.

Then to Taidong for Julian's bash. We ate at a Xinjiang restaurant and once again wondered why the muslim owners didn't sell pork but they did sell alcohol. We ate various bit of chicken and cow. Then we wondered what 羊宝 (lamb treasures) were. So we ordered and along came lamb penis and balls on sticks. Poor lamb. For those who are interested, the penis was very, very hard (basically gristle) and the balls were very soft with the texture of tofu. You could see veins and things.

When I bit off a bit of a penis it took me a while to swallow, because every time I tried, I gagged.

Ghrassan and Dongmin, the two guys there apart from Julian, declined to taste and looked a bit queasy.

Then we went to watch Kung Fu Panda which we enjoyed far more than GrownUps should. It is also a genuinely beautiful film. The animation is fantastic and the design gobsmacking. It was also slightly depressing as the China in the film is beautiful and serene and exquisite, which is not like the China outside my bedroom window. Which is a bit grey.Which is a shame.