We started out at Nan Luo Gu Xiang. I still haven't translated what that means but it'll be something like Authentic Chinese Alley Encourages Foreigners in the Drinking Place. I'll put up some pictures of NLGX...later. It's a great example of tearing down the old and awesome and replacing it with a new lamer version of old and awesome. It's a favourite Chinese governmental passtime. Anyone who has been to the Badaling area of The Great Wall will know what I mean. I found the gang drinking on the rooftop "terrace" of the Boheme Coffee Republic. It's just the roof of the bar, but they've stuck some chairs and couches up there. You have to kinda scramble to get up there and the roof is slanted, but it matters less the more you drink.
I met Keng Keng up there. It was great to see her. She's hands down my favourite person in China. Her fam are moving to Melbourne in a matter of days as well. She told me she's pretty nervous about going cos she's not got any friends there and her English is pretty average. But she's a fucking superstar so I'm sure she will be fine. Her English has got way better in the last 6 months as well. She used to hate speaking English which is awesome. It's a fucked language. I understand completely why she's nervous about going though. Moving to a country where you speak the language craptastically and have no friends is no easy shit.
I hope that she doesn't meet with that Australian ignorance of FOB awesomeness any time soon.
So we alighted the terrace and went and got some 串 (= chuan = meaty deliciousness on a stick = see this post).
It's still stinking hot here so eating outside seemed like a good option. NLGX is pretty narrow and as well and pedestrians, there's bikes, 3-wheel bicycle tuk-tuks, motorbikes and cars trying to get through. As we were sitting eating our meal last night, a fucking Hummer tried to get past and we all had to scoot out chair to the side to let it through. Fucking Hummers.
KengKeng has great taste in music and after we could gorge on chuan no more we headed up to Mao's Live House, the local punk dive. I'd never been but I will go again. Shocking sound, crap lighting, under airconditioned, sticky floor and general air of shittiness. We got there in time to see the last two bands only . It was 40 kuai to get in which feels kind of as outrageous as asking 40 Oz dollars to get into shitty bands at The Annandale. Keng Keng, always the wordsmith said "It is a fucking ripoff" and I walked inside smiling. The first band was crap but I enjoyed it because I was enjoying the ambiance. Kunming neverhad any clubs as cool as this. The last band, PK-14 were awesome. Kinda like a Chinese Interpol maybe? Good stuff.
After that it pretty much went pear shaped. We jumped in a cab and made it up to Sanlitun, the notorious foreigners bar district. We started at Kai Bar, the seediest of the seedy, but the drinks are spectacularly cheap and everywhere else, it's pretty much Western prices or worse. By this stage I'd had quite a bit to drink and was looking to get mouthy. There were a lot of retarded foreigners around to make fun of luckily. I found 2 guys who were English teaching 3 hours out of Beijing and settled in to trying to pick a fight. I dunno, I'm an idiot, ok? When I got sick of that, I stumbled around Kai Bar trying to find Keng Keng, Elise and Matt but couldn't find anyone. I'd also run out of money completely and didn't have my phone with me. With no other options, I started the long walk home. It took me about an hour and a half to get home and I called Matt straight away. I had 10 missed calls on my phone. Matt, Elise and Keng Keng had been searching Santilun for that time trying to find me. Kai Bar is the sort of place that degenerates quickly and the surly Russian prostitutes and other mafia types come out of the woodwork. Matt had been beside himself with worry as I'd disappeared into thin air. He rushed home after I called and cried when he told me about searching the streets for me. He was worried something seriously bad had happened to me. I felt as shitty as the floor of the Mao Live House. I realised I was in way over my depth. Beijing can be a big mean city and the foreigners scene nasty and predatory.
Lessons learned:
#1 Don't ever leave the house without your phone.
#2 Always bring too much money and have an emergency 50 kuai on my person at all times.
#3 Getting drunk and picking fights, though fun is not appropriate in big scary cities.
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