pre-birthday excitement post.

may 4 square--a famous qingdao icon

YES, i know people usually wait til their birthday is over and then tell all about and how much fun they had but the anticipation of it all was just too exciting for me! essentially, i am celebrating my birthday a week in advance--mentally that is. :)

for my 32nd birthday (i know chicks aren't supposed to reveal their age but at this age who gives a fuck!), we're going to Qingdao or people may know it as Tsingdao. They are best known for their beer, which i personally think tastes worse than horse piss, but i heard at their brewery, they have tons of variations and for 50rmb, you get loads of alcohol and a museum tour. the town has german influence all over b/c it used to be a german colony, hence the brewery. the sailing portion of the beijing olympics was held there. doing the research thus far on the sights we want to see, it seems to be primarily temples (well, it IS china), parks, churches and cathedrals, beaches (YAY!), and the bars and the famous brewery plus the former governor's residence which is of german architecture and made from a couple taels of silver! i checked the weather forecast and it doesn't look good but if luck is on our side, the weather man will be wrong, as he usually is and it won't rain. if it does, there are tons of indoor places to check out or we can just dance in the rain! we just booked rooms at the first 5 star hotel in the Shandong province at the Grand Regency Hotel Qingdao. i can't say i've ever stayed at a 5 star anything before. we will be out there 5 nights and dave is hoping to find a beer stein of some sort. pictures to follow of course... :)

is there a better way to commemorate or forget your 32nd b'day than drowning the memories in a drunken haze of qingdao beer?