Did a short walk around my hotel alone as my mum wanted to rest. Although it was near to the Railway Station, the streets were pretty deserted by 10pm except for a couple of hair salons that offers body and foot massages. Some had the reddish tinted fluorescent lamp on, enough said.

I went into one of the "brightly lighted" ones and asked for a body massage. It set me back by RMB30 for 45 minutes of massage. It was pretty conventional: a small section of the salon was crafted out for a really small bed. A young lady came in and started massaging my back. She was from Anhui and born in the year of the Tiger (this was her reply when I asked for her age). I had an interesting conversation with her on life in Singapore and how culturally different I was as compared to China. She was very impressed that Sillyporeans speak Mandarin. I will get to hear from more surprised folks on this during our trip. The massage session was abruptly cut short when her boss says time was up. It was really pleasant crapping on how wonderful Sillypore was.

I finished the night with a fresh draft beer at RMB5 per pint. That really ensured a good night's sleep.

Train to Beijing (T78) departs at 2pm so there was some time to hang around. I wondered if I ever have the chance to visit Qingdao again. The weather was hazy like major Chinese cities. This was not pollution: as the locals had claimed, it is greyish because of the weather (forecast states the whole Shandong province is raining cats and dogs). Thus, we walked around the coast with constant drizzle. I thought it was most uncool for a backpacker when my mum used her umbrella through out the trip.

In the end, I was perhaps more uncool when I fell sick upon reaching Beijing.