Qingdao Beer Festival

Qingdao's Beer Festival is one of the most famous things in Qingdao. I'm not sure at what order of famous/popularity they go, but the top 3 most famous things in Qingdao are Laoshan, May 4th Square and Beer Festival.

Since it's so famous we had to go. We are not necessarily crazy beer festival type people but we heard that this festival was more like the fair than a crazy wild beer bash. So we thought we'd check it out.
Entrance tickets were super cheap at 10 yuan per person but the beer and carnival games and ride were outrageously expensive! All the games were atleast 20 yuan ($2.50 ish) and a pitcher of beer was 80 yuan (almost $13!) where as anywhere outside of the beer festival in Qingdao you can get a pitcher for $10 ($1.60).

We enjoyed the "festival" feel of it. There were tons of tents with live music and shows in each one, music playing, people dancing and many fair games and rides.

 The day we went was overcast and dreary which ended up being a plus because less people were visiting that day. Usually, people say that there are waaaaaaaaaaay too many people here.

 There was tons of BBQ for sale. The BBQ guys would all dance and sing while cooking. They looked like tons of boy bands grilling meat! haha.

Each type of beer had it's own tent. 

 Each tent held music performances and shows. 

 We were convinced this was dog but found out later it was lamb.

We got excited to see all the churro tents. We imgained they'd be like Mexican Churros.

They weren't. This is my disappointed face.

 Zachary and Matthias trying them out. They didn't like them either.

They came with ice cream and chocolate.

 We decided to sit down in the Carlsberg tent and play some cards. 

 We dared Matthias to go up to the stage and volunteer for a game. He had to slide the glass to the end of the table, without it going over.

 It started raining outside. We were happy to be under a tent playing cards.

 Jessica braved the rain to go to the bathroom.

We bought some freshly popped kettle corn. All they have in China is sweet popcorn.

 Jessica got us some meat sticks. They were not so delicious. So, we gave them to the table of Chinese people next to us. They were very pleased and seemed to enjoy them.

 Later we moved to a different tent where we saw this guy and 2 other guys performing. We enjoyed chatting with him after his performance. His name is Obama, and he's from Ghana. He was very nice. 

Hula hoop performance.

Zachary put my Ulta clip in braid on. Cute, huh? Even cuter that I take my fake braid off in the middle of public.

 The Tanzanian beer pyramid. Did you know Tanzania made beer?

We got a little bored in the tents so we decided to walk around though it was still drizzling. I bought one of these! I was super excited to try this because I loved playing with these things as a kid by shaking the seeds around. Do you remember them!? They were always in potpurri.

Do you see them? Apparently, you can eat the seeds fresh. They tasted like nuts to me but didn't have much flavor.

 These two ladies were walking around asking for money. We talked to them for a long time in Chinese. They were both from Qingdao and in their 80's. They were so sweet. And short! We even talked some about Jesus. 

These looked awesome! I really wanted to ride on one, but I think they were for kids!

 These are two character rides that are always outside grocery stores in China. Kids love these things! I think they're kind of creepy. 

 There was a Harry Potter haunted house! I really wanted to go in it but Zachary wouldn't let me. :p

 We all won matching bracelets playing carnival games. We played lots of darts and with the bb guns. 

Miller made an appearance. As well as, Budweiser. But the Budweiser tent was probably the smallest one of the whole festival.

 Tons of fried things, just like our fairs in Texas. 

We tried some fried durian (the stinky feet fruit). It was not too tasty. It tasted like chewy jelly inside. 

There was also big carnival rides like the pirate ship, twister, a big ferris wheel and others. But we didn't go on any of them or take pictures.

Overall, we had a good time experiencing a famous piece of Qingdao but probably won't go next year or recommend it to anyone. Haha.