China MISadventures #1 - Wandering into a Military Base (original story)

When 8 guys in their 20's get together to travel on a weekend...some crazy sh*t will happen.

It was time for a guy's trip. Girlfriends had to stay at home and we took a train from Jinan to Qingdao. Qingdao is a coastal city famous for beaches and it's also where they make China's beer "Tsingtao".

One of the quieter beaches in Qingdao

Source: Flickr - Found using google search - filtered by usage rights

Other than me, there were 6 Americans and 1 British guy in the group. I'll give them names for the sake of the story:

1. British Guy - William - The youngest of our group. He had a girlfriend back in Jinan and it was his birthday this weekend. Needless to say, he was ready to get a little crazy with his newfound freedom
2. New York - Levi - The one and only Jewish friend I've had. I haven't had the opportunity to meet many others.
   Extremely laid back and happy-go-lucky. Always laughing and always had a drink in his hand.
3. Minnesota - Thad - Life of the party. Known for being a little wild and reckless. Drinks a lot but usually his charm gets him out of bad situations.
4. Arizona - Eric - Built like a football player but chill like a stoner. Odd sense of humor but always good for a laugh.
5. Arizona 2 - Warren - Lived with a Chinese family while in China. Extremely responsible. Flawless Chinese. Just an all around great guy.
6. Florida 1 - Mike - Really smart and educated guy. I could talk philosophy and argue with him all day. He's the guy in the group who would lead us into new territory. He also loved his drinks so sometimes that led to a little trouble.
7. Florida 2 -Craig - Close friend of Mike. Driven, intelligent dude but still willing to let loose every once in a while.

It was a Sunday night and it was summertime and we were looking to blow off some steam. After working a 10 hour day we hopped on the high speed train around 7 o'clock. It's about an hour and a half ride to where we were going. We had hit the liquor store after work so it wasn't long before we started getting loud and obnoxious. I actually felt bed for all the people on the train that night. Fortunately, we made it in no time but we were all already a little blasted.

Right when we get off the train, we see a security guard walking down the stairs. I don't remember who but someone bet Thad some money he couldn't get the guy's cap off him. Thad just walked up and flashed a smile and asked him for it. This lead to an exchange of cigarettes and some photos of the group with the man.

We went on our way and made it to our accommodations. An old German observatory on top of a mountain. Still had a giant telescope but I don't think it was functioning anymore. We dropped our stuff off in the dorm style room and made our way out into the night. It was pouring rain.

By this point, Mike was hammered. To the point where he probably shouldn't have been going out in the first place. We got into the cab and he drunkenly gave the taxi driver our address back in Jinan. After some doing, I convinced the driver to meet the others at a local bar.

Tequila. $1.50 a shot. Alcohol is already cheap in China but we took advantage. By the end of the night, we went back to the hotel to find Levi throwing up in the bushes. Soon after we got inside, William and Eric followed suit. Mike was a total mess. Questioning life itself and telling me that nothing matters. I was surprised he was still on his feet. I remember climbing into my bunk and hearing Mike say "that's not a good idea". I passed out hard.

Morning came. 2 guys were missing from the room. Thad and Warren. Turns out when we got back to the room, they weren't ready to call it a night. They wanted to go out for a walk. Mike, the drunkest of us all told them it was a bad idea. Huh.

We didn't think too much of them not being there. All of their things were still in the room. We exchanged theories.

"Maybe they met a couple chicks and are in another room..."

"Thad probably did something stupid and Warren is trying to find him..."

Ah well. We went up stairs to a beautiful sunny patio and ate breakfast. Noon was approaching fast and neither Thad or Warren were answering their phones. Now we were starting to get a little worried. We grabbed their things and checked out anyways, moving to a hotel closer to the beach.

We got to the new hotel and finally we received a call from Thad:

"We got arrested. Seriously. They're letting us out now."

Turns out they wanted to find a place with a nice view to have a smoke. They walked a while and quickly found a tall building. They climbed on up and sat on the ledge. Taking in the sights of the city. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they looked down and saw rows of vehicles below them. Not a huge deal in China, there are cars everywhere. Then they looked closer.

"That looks like a tank..."

"Holy shit. It is."

"Let's get the f*ck out of here!!"

They climbed down the stairs and were about to sneak out when a guy came out of nowhere yelling at them to stop. This was at about 4 am. They brought them inside and took them into separate rooms.

At the time, Thad knew next to no Chinese. Because of this, he was put in a room with some guards, given a chair and a blanket. He spent his time smoking and more or less making friends with the soldiers.

Unfortunately for Warren, he was pretty much fluent in Chinese. This meant he spent about 8-10 hours getting questioned/interrogated. They were super thorough, even asking for the name of his grandparents (and all of our names). As you might imagine, they thought they might be American spies. That is, until they looked at the security footage. Thad and Warren stumbling up to the gate with a sign in English that said "MILITARY BASE - KEEP OUT". In their drunken stupor, this was overlooked. The monitor showed Thad climbing up and over the fence...as Warren calmly walked around it.

All said and done, they released them after they realized it was just a mistake. We re-united and had another crazy day of drinking which resulted in Mike cutting his foot open...and three of us getting food poisoning from eating an octopus.

Stay tuned for my next China Misadventure Story.