Music Festival: Elvis Presley of China

The Music Festival is going on at the park for the rest of the National Holiday week (October 1 – 7).  Jeff wanted to go on the 1st (read: sneak in, because they want us to pay for tickets even though we work in the park–nope!) because he said that the main band is like the Elvis Presley for China.  So they are a big deal.

The Western bands (singing in English) play first, so we generally miss those, since we go around 7:30.  Then it’s a DJ or two for an hour an a half, with entertainment.  Our dancer, acrobat, and clown neighbors come out at various intervals during this time.  The dancers are basically doing a strip tease with minimal clothes on to house music.  The African acrobats wear hoods and masks and sneak through the crowd, mobilize, and breakdance, tumble, and whatever else they do.  The clowns walk on the bouncy stilts through the crowd and let loose a couple of giant balloons.  The DJ was pretty good too, so Jan and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  After the DJ is the main band of the night.  I could tell that they were iconic in China; everyone was singing along to a few of his better songs.  Apparently an encore performance in China is like 4 or 5 songs, not the standard 1 (or maybe 2) for the U.S.

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Fun Foreigner Festivities for the Festival

Octopus tentacles and squid ready to grill

• Jan, Jeff, and I were given giant foam glow sticks almost immediately upon arrival.  So of course we were waving them around like maniacs.
• The Chinese are very conservative with their dancing.  And they already stare at us because we are foreign.  Jan and I had our own full-on outrageous glow stick dance party in the back of the crowd (where all the non-dancers hang out and there’s plenty of room to move) to the DJ’s music.  When I stopped for a minute, there were several phones on us and a whole bunch of people just watching.
• Jan and I tried an octopus tentacle.  It was grilled and spiced with that Xi’An seasoning, and was pretty good.  Very chewy, and tasty.  Not as good as our fried squid, but not a bad experience.

Jan and I getting ready to eat grilled octopus tentacle for 15 RMB

Other random food items of note (because what’s adventure without a good snack?)

Durian ice cream. Smell is not overly powerful. Tastes good but weird; don’t burp afterwards!!!

• Jeff went with me to the penis stand and translated for me.  Not only does the writing on the box say “Big Dick” but the inside of the edible penis is stuffed with Chinese processed meat stick (basically spam).  Uh, definitely not eating that!  What a bummer.  I wonder how many of those the stand actually sells…
• I tried durian flavored ice cream from the employee store.  It was interesting; it didn’t smell too bad, and sweet, but a little weird tasting.  The kicker comes after you’re all finished… Don’t ever burp or hiccup after eating durian flavored ice cream!!!  You’ll immediately know why the fruit is nicknamed “stinky fruit.”
• Garrison and I had grilled pork belly from the “Lewa International Food Palcae.”  VERY tasty, and it doesn’t have the fatty texture that I dislike.  It was presented in a wrap with onions (which Jeff said helps absorb some of the grease) and hoisin, and the whole thing was very oily.  Delicious, but definitely not something that you can eat very often.
• I found a beer that I like!  Okay, so it’s not really a beer, because it has almost no alcohol and it tastes like carbonated pineapple juice.  Delicious, but the beers come in giant bottles and it’s hard for me to finish.