One night in Qingdao

After our gig on Saturday, it was hard to cool down and take a few hour sleep. But I managed to force myself to an hour nap before getting up at 6:30AM. Left the hotel at 7AM and took the taxi to the airport. The moment we boarded the plane, my eyes started to fall. Napped a bit but got disturbed by the crew when they were serving breakfast. Forgot to turn on the DND button on my forehead. LOL

Landing in Qingdao, I could actually tell that it's so different from Beijing. The air is fresh and although it was a hot day, it's not as humid as Beijing. The taxi passed by infront of Qingdao Beer City which was already swarmed by lots of people. Just noticed that the rides that they have this year are different from the rides that they had last year and the year before. And when the taxi was making its turn to Yindu Garden, I got so excited as it used to be our "home" for almost two years and couldn't wait to be there again. We went straight to DJ Jboy's apartment to rest for a while while waiting for Jboy's wife, Che-Che, to come back from her class (she teaches English in a Korean school). Our friends Jermaine and his wife Tina arrived, too. They brought with them Marl's photo equipments and bags that Marl asked them to buy online.

After lunch, I went to Jimo Market with Tina and Che-Che to buy some stuff. Then at past 3 in the afternoon, we just picked up our stuff in their house before hitting the beach for the BBQ. A tent has been set up while Jboy did the BBQ-ing. I met the current Filipino band playing at the Qbar now and they're all nice. I also saw my Russian friend Rada, who was invited to be the model for the photo shoot. My job for the day was not to be THE model. I was THE makeup artist and I loved it. Rada's face is beautiful and having her fully made-up with colors just made her look like a doll! I also lent her the dress that I brought with me and some props and accessories. But don't fret because I managed to be shot towards the end of the shoot, just before the sunset. I wanted to be different and just painted my face with colors. Even my lips are painted with yellow and green! After sunset, the three photographers, Marl, Jboy and Jermaine, setup their flash lighting for flash photography. Then we wrapped up the BBQ session for a more fun party later on.

Marl and I just had an hour of nap before going to Shangri-La Hotel's Qbar. It was great to be there again and it was even better to see the staff who we have became good friends with. The highlight of the evening was seeing our friend David and his girlfriend Pam. It was great listening to the band, too. And it feels so good just sitting down at Qbar, having fun with friends, while enjoying the band as well. Drinks started flowing at David's table: vodka and my favorite - champagne. I was having so much fun that I kept on gulping champagne down my throat until I got drunk.

Yes, I got effin' drunk!

I remember singing with the band and dancing off my ass. I remember my slurring tongue. I remember Marl trying to stop me from drinking more. I remember bits of happening. But I couldn't remember the sequence of events and how we got home. I remember taking the taxi going to the train station. I was like a robot following Marl wherever he went. LOL.

The train from Qingdao was 6 hours and the seat that we got was not the one with the reclining seat. It's the dining seat wherein we are facing other passengers and between us is a dining table. Oh man! The seat was okay but it was really hard to sleep! I don't know how I managed to sleep through the journey. It's good that the two other passengers infront of us were just talking. Yeah, they were talking for 6 hours!

Reaching the Beijing South Railway Station, I was sooooo thankful. While on a taxi, ll I could think of was our hotel room and bed. And when we reached the hotel, I just removed the makeup that I had on for the past 20 hours, changed and hit the bed. Woke up at 7:30PM and prepared for work. Man, that was such a tiring trip but all worth it because we were able to get some of our stuff that we left there earlier this year and have fun with good old friends.

We're planning for another trip to Qingdao in September, which reminds me to book for 1st class tickets for the train this time. Six hours lying down, that would be nice. Till the next trip again...

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