Now I mean no disrespect to John Lennon, I actually tend to enjoy thoroughly the music of the Beatles. Just because Yoko and John broke up what is arguably the greatest band of all time, I am not bitter, well a little but whatever.
So I am actually back home in Shiyan now, I had a class at 8 a.m. this morning and I wanted to give you guys a recap of the last day or so of my vacation. To start with my friends finally showed up on Tuesday, at 10:30 p.m., no surprise there what do you expect when you take a boat. Whatever they showed up and it was good to see them. So on Wednesday morning we went walking around the city and saw some more cool stuff I have added two new galleries, one of the old church we saw and one of the Tsing Tao brewery. You might be asking yourself what Tsing Tao is, well its like an 104 year old beer company in China. It is pronounced Qingdao (Ching dao) though. It is of course named after the city in which it was founded. I really don't want to go over with you why the spelling are different if you don't know maybe you should crack a history book once in a while. The reason the spelling hasn't changed with the times, is all about marketing and Brand recognition. Ask yourselves how successful Clear Pepsi was, it wasn't. Pepsi Co. changed the brand everybody was familiar and comfortable with and as we know people hate change it frightens and confuses them, but moving on. So after the brewery we went to the greatest place in Qingdao.
The Lennon Bar is a Beatles tribute bar in the heart of Qingdao, it was also a 20 minute cab ride away from my hotel, blah. This place was the bomb if I can borrow a phrase from 1999. Here is how I know most of you would love it. First off its a freaking Beatles tribute bar in the middle of China. Second they have a live band that plays Western music and they play it good. Notice the movie clip above I was at the bathroom and missed the start but they played "Free Bird" all the way through, all 9 minutes and 36 seconds. They played Eric Clapton, CCR, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, James Brown, and JON BON JOVI!!!!! You don't even like Bon Jovi, Jewett global shoutout. They played these songs better than Okay, these guys rocked. The lead guitarist was a mad man on the guitar and their English was outstanding. These guys rocked, I have another video clip of they playing Bon Jovi I am going to add to the last old story so watch that to. Third for all you drinkers out there they sold 23 ounce bottles of Tsing Tao for 7 quai, that is barely 1 USD. Since this is China and you can smoke anywhere you better believe there was smoking in the bar. Now as you know I don't smoke or drink, but what I do is eat and listen to music. I haven't even mentioned that they served awesome Chinese food that everybody loved instantly. If I lived in Qingdao i would be at Lennon's every night, it is by far one of the best experiences I have had in China. I know you are going to say well it wasn't really China, it was more America. What it was was the perfect blend of both cultures and is appointment viewing as they say for any American tourist in Qingdao.
So after an awesome night at Lennon's I had to get back on the train to Shiyan. Another 24 hours of fun. I started out with just a seat ticket but was able to upgrade to a bed. However I got a middle bunk, so much fun. I don't want to ruin the video blog I shot for the train ride so I won't tell anymore than to say I made it home in one piece. Of course it was raining and cold and I had to walk up 7 flights of steps, argh. Oh well even so it is good to be home. I will miss my friends who I am now not going to see for 8 long months. That's a global shoutout to Sarah and Rebecca, and of course Bebop, Rocksteady, Jake, and the Fat man!!!!!! That's all I got for now I'll see you guys around.
I do want to toss out some greetings to new readers and contributors:
Daniel Patterson: Not to be confused with Daniel Moss my black brother or Daniel Jewett my inferior in every way Fantasy Football guru or so he thinks. I am talking of course of my white brother and the only one the State of Ohio will recognize as my brother in an inheritance hearing. Spelling schmelling, who cares you'll read it anyways.
