Chinese BBQ

I had my first taste of Chinese BBQ a couple weeks ago. It was really quite the experience. The school I teach at is just outside the downtown part of Weifang and there are no street lights or building lights on the way to my school. Because of this, the buses stop running at about 6:30pm because it starts to get dark and no one really goes out. So I basically have no idea what the night life is like here. I was telling this to my boss, Mr. Sun (his english name is James), and he said he'd show me some of the night life of Weifang. We went out and met some of his friends (two of the three friends could speak some english).

We had dinner at a restaurant I call "The Hot Pot". For those of you who are familiar with "The Melting Pot" it is very similiar to that. They have a pot full of boiling broth or something, and they bring you your food raw. The food consisted of different kinds of seaweed (supposedly really healthy for you), cabbage, carrets, spinach, raw lamb, beef, mutton's blood (yep, I tried it...umm I don't think I was much of a fan), prawn, shrimp, and some other kinds of veggies. It was fun. About 3/4 of the way through the meal, they told me to save room for the second meal. ???? What? There is more?!? You see, the food is not just portion size, they give you the whole buffet table! James was serious! BBQ was next...well, actually, we went to an arcade and played games for an hour or so and then went for BBQ.

The pictures are of us having BBQ. They have tables and stools set up on the sidewalk. You sit down and then tell them what you want to eat. (James and his friends did all the ordering since I don't know what anyone was talking about. lol) All of the food is put on skewers and cooked over hot coals outside. We had pork, garlic (they really like garlic here!), bread, and something else. It was really good! This is where they also do the social drinking. Did I mention that they really like beer here? Well they do. Qingdao is really famous for its beer. They have a beerfest in August every year which I'm told is something to go to if you like beer. But the beer here is very diluted compared to what is found in the US...at least that's what I hear. Anyways, when you come to China, you have to try the BBQ. You'll love it!