Raise those steins, comrade! (Shanghai Oktoberfest)

Sep 19, 2008 17:19




Last night I took my team for a thank-you offsite dinner. (At least, as many who were not on vacation or leave of some kind). I suggested we might want to go to the 11th annual Shanghai Oktoberfest, being held at my hotel, the Renaissance Shanghai Yangtze.




German beer, German food, and an oompah band completed the experience.







The band was particularly fun. Here one of their members was playing the saw in a rendition of Edelweiss. The accordion player doubled on the electric guitar, so they also did a set of 70s hits like "YMCA" and "Sweet Home Alabama" to get people up and dancing.




And dance they did - here a large group from Johnson Controls is standing on their benches and partying like it was 1999. They were helmed by a couple of white guys who were singing along with the traditional German drinking songs.

At another time, the chefs marched through the tent carrying a whole piggy, banging pans.




Never having been to Oktoberfest in Munich, it seemed like they had a lot of traditional-seeming elements, plus the 70s music and the odd Chinese love song.

What was really funny is that my Shanghai team didn't really cut loose and dance a lot. I asked their manager later, and he said that they liked the event, but this was the kind of thing they did in college, and they are a bunch of old married men now. Hmph.

travel prc china shanghai "shanghai okto

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