Help in Qingdao, China???

[Chef]

Howdy;
Man band is going to Qingdao China in August to headline the opening ceremonies for the Tsingtao Beer Festival, and then play at various venues around town during what I understand is a 3 week long event.
Obviously trying to get my DB there seems next to impossible, and fraught with hardship and peril...
Shen, Eastman and Concorde all have shops in either Shanghai or Beijing, cities which appear to be more or less equidistant from Qingdao, and about 500 miles away.
If anyone has friends, contact info for a DB shop, manufacturer or someone who might be able to help provide me with a decently playable instrument for the 7-10 days we'll be there, that'd be much appreciated.
Alternately, if you have a magic wand that would get my DB there and back intact, that'd be ok too

thanks y'all;

alan

[Bass Mule]

Sorry, I don't have any helpful info for you. I have an off topic question/request. I've tried Tsingdao beer many times, and thought it was horrible (skunky). I thought maybe it got that way because of the shipping process (if allowed to warm up, then cool down, etc...) Do me a favor, will you? Try some Tsingdao here, then try some there and tell me if there's a huge difference.
Just curious.
Again, not trying to derail your thread, and sorry I couldn't help with your original inquiry.

[Chef]

Concur, it kinda has a Heineken thing going on.
I'll report back, but it'll be September...

[TeeMartin]

Tsingdao beer is indeed ass. I think it is cheaper than bottled water there. I've tasted the stuff fresh at the brewery and it a little bit better.

One of the nicest cities in China though. The sky is actually blue.

[brooklynflats]

You're going to China? I've been wondering if people in China can readily access the internet internationally. It would be cool if you could log into this TalkBass forum thread from China and let us know how your gig is going, what Bass you ended up with, how it sounds fresh from the factory, and of course, what the beer tastes like. Hey, have a great trip.
David

[dchan]

Originally Posted by brooklynflats

You're going to China? I've been wondering if people in China can readily access the internet internationally. It would be cool if you could log into this TalkBass forum thread from China and let us know how your gig is going, what Bass you ended up with, how it sounds fresh from the factory, and of course, what the beer tastes like. Hey, have a great trip.
David

You can readily access the internet over in China. Just go to an internet cafe and pay about a dollar American and you get about 30 minutes to an hour. Pretty much everything is accessible over the internet except for some touchy items the government wants to keep under wraps. Does TalkBass threaten the government? I doubt it, unless you decide to rant politically.

[Chef]

I was wondering about that stuff myself.
I'm hoping to build a paypal store with downloadable tracks rather than take a crate or two of cd's to sell.
With the size of the crowds/venues we'll be playing, they gotta have big sound support; therefore a decent board; therefore I oughta be able to take an mp3 recorder, and get decent mixes fo the shows while we're there from the board.
"Ironweed, Live from Qingdao."
Maybe I could even post mp3's for y'all...

[Mike Carr]

Yes, you get internet in China, I'm here in Hangzhou China at this moment, I've got DSL in my flat and my laptop and the whole enchilada! There is a bit of screening by the powers that be, nothing too heavy. They sometimes block a few sites that are touchy in the political sense and some porn stuff too, but nothing anyone would miss. I get all the news of the world, cnn.com salon.com, newspaper sites and even can stream US jazz stations. It's not at all like it was 30 years ago, before it opened up to the west. We have KFC, Mickey D's Starbucks, we even got a brand new "Hooters" bar, right here in Hangzhou!

[Chef]

Cool, and thanks for the pm's...

[Chef]

bump

[TeeMartin]

Oh and last time I was there Wikipedia was blocked.