As of tomorrow (Wednesday) I will have been in China for four weeks, and in that time it feels like I’ve done just about everything and nothing at all. My social life, for one, seems to have exactly two speeds, none and insane, with absolutely no middle ground. Some nights it involves watching CCTV-9 alone and going to sleep at nine, other nights there are marathon drinking sessions at the rooftop bar and massages at 4 AM.
On Friday night, after getting a bit loaded at the rooftop bar (which is on the roof of the hourly hotel down Zhou Shan Dong Lu), Alf, Carl, Greg and I went to a tiny little karaoke bar that had reasonably priced cold Carlsberg. There I got friendly with a xiaojie by the name of Zhao Jue, a bartender and the owner’s daughter. Using my poor Chinese skills and her poor English skills, we decided to get together the next evening. I would go to the bar at around 11, we would hang out there (read: drink) until two and then see what there was to do.
So the next evening I did just as we planned, showing up around 11 and nursing five beers until 2, at which point she decided that she wanted to go to a (semi-) legitimate massage parlor (that is, one where they will probably do the prostitution thing if you want it, but that is not expressly a front for a brothel). Two hours later and forty kuai poorer (but very loose and relaxed) we head home. Plans are made for dinner the next day, and things seem like they’re going well.
Then, just before we start to play football on Sunday afternoon, I get an SMS from her saying that she wasn’t interested in having dinner after all. I suppose that girls from every country are, for the most part, the same.
To make up for it, Greg and I very unwisely go to the rooftop bar again, drink far too much, go to sleep far too late, and have to teach at 8 AM Monday morning. Fun stuff, that.
In totally unrelated news, I am going to Changchun during the seven-day National Day holiday. I’m leaving Hangzhou by train sometime either next Monday evening or Tuesday morning (they’re reserving the tickets as we speak) and returning either October 7 in the evening or October 8 in the morning. It should be lots of fun.
Update: Not going to Changchun after all. There were no train tickets available until the middle of the holiday, and I’m not going to travel for a day each way just to stay three days. Instead I’m going to Shanghai, staying in a hostel by the Bund, and soaking in the waning days of warmth.
The USD:RMB exchange rate is about 1:8.2 — in case you were as curious as I.
Left by David on September 22nd, 2003
How cold will it get where you are in the winter?
Left by David on September 23rd, 2003
Not much colder than Florida. It has the potential to snow, but apparently when it snowed last year it was the first time that had happened in a decade. Thankfully it will be much warmer than the -30°C winters that I would have faced in Changchun.
Left by John on September 24th, 2003
It feels WAY COLDER in Hangzhou than in Florida. You’ll see, John…
Left by John P on September 26th, 2003
Probably for the same reason it feels so hot here… you can’t get out of it as easily as you could in the States. Though I’m sure if it gets rainy here too it will seem a lot colder than Florida.
Left by John on September 26th, 2003