So Saturday was a pretty busy day. I started out with a run in the morning because I knew I would be doing no more exercise after the evening's activities. I did a bit of a lap along the streets around the apartment complex, and as I went by a few hairdressers I realised that I hadn't had a haircut since I was last in Australia, which was more than two months ago. So I finished my run, had a shower, and then wandered down the road in search of a place that wouldn't shave my head completely bald.
The closest place was a little busy, so I continued up the road before taking the plunge at Wenfeng. Wenfeng is a large beauty/hairdressing chain that has more than 100 salons throughout China. I figured if they had expanded that far, they must be doing something right, so I took a deep breath and made my way inside.
I was greeted by about half a dozen girls standing by the door and a couple of guys who were dressed in suits. They made the snipping haircut motion to me, and I said 'yes, I would like a haircut' in Chinese. At least, I think I did. They may have interpreted it as 'purple monkey table bottom' based on my pronunciation. At any rate, they got the idea, so one of the girls took my arm and sat me down in front of a mirror...and proceeded to get some shampoo and lather up my hair. I had known this was coming, so I wasn't all that surprised, but it was a bit of a different experience from what I get back in Melbourne. She washed my hair and gave me a scalp massage for about 10 minutes, and then led me over to a chair where I leaned back and had the shampoo rinsed out.
At this point, the girl seemed a little confused as to what to do with me. She went over to another assistant and they took me to a big board with a list of services and prices. Turns out they wanted to know if I wanted to move onto the cutting of hair, or whether I'd like a massage first. I hadn't yet had a massage in China, so I agreed since it was only going to be $25 or so for an hour long treatment. The girl took me up some stairs to another area where there were a few others lying down on massage tables (thankfully clothed) and getting their arms, backs or legs worked on. I got onto one of the spare tables (with some confusion about which was I was supposed to be facing initially) and proceeded to have a very relaxing massage for the next hour.
Once that was finished, it was almost with regret that I ventured back downstairs where I had my hair rinsed and dried for a second time. After that I was finally led over to a guy dressed up like a soldier in dress uniform. Seriously, he had stars on each of the shoulders of his jacket. I don't really know what was going on there. Anyhoo, he grabbed a bunch of my hair to indicate how much I wanted cut off, and after I agreed he went to work. I've got to say he was very good - was extremely precise and didn't mess around. Those that know me know that my hair is not exactly in the most complicated style, so he was finished in around 15 minutes. I was then led back to the girl to get my hair rinsed for a 3rd time, before going back to the military guy to have it blow-dried and be subject to a final inspection.
An hour and a half after I walked in, I was finally finished, for the grand total of $AUS35. Not too shabby at all. As a side note, I've since found another place a little further up the road where all the girls dress up in sailor outfits. No prizes for guessing where I'll be going next time.
I was feeling full of energy when I got home from having the haircut, so I grabbed my basketball and jogged up to the courts where I proceeded to shoot around for the next two hours with a couple of other guys (it was raining on/off at this point so there weren't many around). I then made my way home to shower and get ready for the night ahead.
Last week, a new employee (Alex, also from Melbourne) started on the project I'm working on. He's been to Shanghai before, but not for years, so I offered to take him out to a few places to show him around. We met up at 8:30 (he's stayed in the same apartment complex as me) and got on the subway to make our way to the Bund. We strolled along the Bund for maybe half an hour and made our way down to the Old Town area where I had gone the previous weekend and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, Old Town had closed. By the time we got there a little before 10, the place was absolutely deserted. We had a quick look around but there was nothing open at all, so we hailed a taxi and made our way to Windows Scoreboard (see previous posts for tales about this place). A quick $2 taxi ride later, we were in the surprisingly not-packed bar and partaking in some delicious frosty (and very cheap) beverages. I expected it to be extremely busy on a Saturday night, but it seems like Friday is the time to go there. It meant we had no problems finding a seat, which was preferable to standing around like I did the last time I went there.
We stayed there for two or three beers, and then moved onto Hengshan Rd, another of the big bar areas. As the taxi driver was trying to work out where to drop us off, we spotted a big place I hadn't been to before named SBS 191. For those of you reading this in Australia, yes it has the same name as the TV station. Actually, it was a pretty cool place...and Alex and I were the only two westerners in the entire bar :) We ordered some (expensive) jugs of beer and took up a position not too far away from the stage where a very energetic band was playing a bunch of popular western songs (Beyonce, Lady GaGa et all). At one point they started playing 'Eye Of The Tiger' which was awesome, but it ended up just being a lead-in to something else we didn't recognise.
While Alex and I were drinking, we had a look around the establishment and noticed something odd - there were at least 10 military officers in there. And they weren't on leave or having a social night out - they had been strategically placed around the bar to stop any mischief that may have arisen from all the alcohol consumption. At least, that's what we assumed. After about 10 minutes or so, we also noticed that a bouncer had made his way over from the door area and took up a position directly behind us. And when I say directly, he was less than a metre away. Like he was prepared to make a move at the least sign of trouble from either of us. It was quite amusing.
We downed a few jugs between us and fended off the advances of a few determined young ladies (one girl named Tracy was quite brazen about her services and seemed quite put out when I refused to buy her a drink), and by this time the band had stopped for a break. To my utter amazement, the DJ then put on some absolutely pumping doof-doof music. I had had enough beer by this stage to want to have a bit of a dance, so I started dancing on the spot...and almost gave the bouncer behind us a heart-attack. He was extremely startled by this sudden burst of energy and gave me a bit of a dirty look, so I apologised and made my way out to the dancefloor instead.
And nearly caused a riot.
Well, maybe not. But I did have some people stop what they were doing and look at me in slack-jawed amazement. The dance floors over here are tiny, and as a result everyone tends to dance the same way - that is, swaying from side to side or just sort of moving in the same spot. It's less prevalent here in Shanghai, but in some of the smaller cities that I've been to in China, it really is quite an experience to be in the middle of the dance floor where everyone is swaying side to side in the same movement to the music. It's like being a part of a writhing amorphous blob-like organism where everyone moves in tandem. Anyway, as those who have been out with me in Melbourne can attest to, I tend to move around quite a bit on the dance floor, and some of the patrons there just couldn't comprehend what I was doing. I was the lone wolf amongst the sheep - it was heaps of fun :)
I actually made such an impression on one guy who was dancing with his girlfriend that he invited Alex and I over to his table, where they offered us cigarettes and free alcohol (Chinese wine mixed with green tea, not too bad actually). Eventually I drank enough that I actually smoked one of the cigarettes on offer, which is something I haven't done in years. We also played a very popular Chinese drinking game where two people each have a cup with 6 dice. Each person shakes the cup and places it face down on the table. The totals of the dice are then compared, and the person with the lower total has to drink. I absolutely sucked at this game and as a result ended up drinking quite a bit in a short amount of time (no, I wasn't losing on purpose).
Anyway, we stayed at SBS until the place closed at 2, and then Alex and I got into a taxi (somehow, have no recollection of that taxi trip) and made our way to Judy's Too on Tongren Lu, a bar that I knew stayed open until 5 so that we could drink and dance some more. Alex lasted there for about half an hour and then went home, but I wasn't prepared to stop dancing at that point, so I stayed around. I seem to recall having a dance-off with the only other guy in the place that was older than me. He was a much better dancer than I am, and we had a great time for a couple of hours.
I stayed at Judy's Too until it closed at 5am, at which time I got into a taxi...
...and went to another place that I knew stayed open until 8. Yes, I am a massive loser! I just don't know when to quit! I went to the Dragon Club, spent $AUS20 to get in, spent god knows how much on beer there (I remember going in and I remember leaving but nothing in-between), and finally made my way home around 7...
...by way of the 24-hour City Diner where I had a delicious omelette and an orange juice. I don't remember how I got from the Dragon Club to the Diner, but I definitely remember the omelette :)
I had given Alex my trusty piece of paper which has the address of our apartment complex written in Chinese, so I had to trust that my Chinese was good enough to get me home. Amazingly, considering how much beer I had consumed during the evening/morning, I was able to convey where I wanted to go to the taxi driver, and I got home safe and sound at about 7:30 for the princely sum of $AUS10. I love this city!
Sunday: worst hangover so far in China. I didn't wake up until after 12, stayed in bed until 3pm watching TV, and then when I got up I only made it to the couch where I didn't move for the rest of the day. That's the price you pay for having so much fun on a Saturday night. Speaking of fun, I have visitors arriving on the weekend - Shotty and Cookie are getting in on Sunday morning. It's a holiday here on Monday, and I'm having Tuesday off, so I'm sure there will be tales to tell of our activities next week.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
In our next exciting episode...
Another big weekend just gone, including:
- My first haircut and first massage since arriving
- A night of beer, dancing, another instance of free alcohol...and an omelette
- A truly terrible hangover
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Exploring Shanghai Old Town, or Andrew:1, Beer:0
Just had a larger-than-required pizza for dinner and am now feeling very fat. So I figured I'd sit down and blog about my weekend travels.
After my massive weekend last week (as evidenced by the 3-part post titled 'Massive weekend'), I had vowed to spend a Friday, Saturday and Sunday alcohol free. I'm pleased to say that I didn't have a single beer for the entire weekend, and as a result got some sightseeing in.
Friday night I stayed in and got out my Lonely Planet Shanghai City Guide. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I skipped through the various sections to find out what they had to say about places I had and hadn't been to. I decided that I wanted to spent a bit of time in Old Town, which is the area south of the Bund, still next to the Huangpu river on the Puxi side. I worked out where I needed to go, wrote down some details of the walking path I wanted to take, and waited for Saturday morning to arrive.
Which it inevitably did...along with a downpour. It rained fairly steadily most of the morning, but cleared up around lunchtime. I did a quick shopping trip and then hopped on the subway to get over to Puxi. I got off at East Nanjing Rd and walked 10 minutes down to the Bund (along with hundreds of other people), where I took a few pictures. I've uploaded a couple below:
A huge statue of Chen Yi, the first Communist Mayor of Shanghai.
The Oriental Pearl TV tower in Pudong.
One of the boats that you can take for a cruise along the river.
The Pudong skyline.
Some of the old buildings along the Bund.
I spent about an hour or so wandering along the Bund before I made my way over to the Old Town area. I started off at the Yuyuan Bazaar, which is a maze of laneways and shops selling every type of trinket you can imagine. Tourists abound in this area - looking for souvenirs and taking photos of everything in sight. With good reason; the buildings are a wonderful example of older Chinese architecture. The beautiful Yuyuan Gardens (I went there a few years ago) are right next to the Bazaar, but I didn't go inside due to time constraints. I'll go back another time.
Here are some photos of the Bazaar area and surroundings:
A dragon's head pops out over the wall of the Yuyuan Gardens.
The classic sight of two dragons guarding a building...surrounded by a Pizza Hut and Pepsi logo.
One of the buildings inside the Bazaar area.
Lots of people visiting on a Saturday afternoon.
Huxinting Teahouse, which was built back in 1784. Guests include Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton and Andrew Smith (I had a meal there back in 2007, very nice food).
The Bridge of Nine Turns which criss-crosses the lake beside the teahouse. Supposedly built this way because evil spirits are unable to turn corners.
I spent about an hour or so in the Bazaar, and then went off on a wander around the other parts of Old Town. More photos:
Stores everywhere. There are bargains to be had but it's a tourist area, so you have to haggle.
The entrance to the Dragon Mall. There's a waterfall on each side of this structure, and every so often steam starts shooting out of it. Pretty cool.
Baiyun Temple. Open until 5, I got there just afterwards so couldn't go in. Next time.
Dongtai Rd Antiques Market. A few blocks away from the Yuyuan Bazaar and much more low-key. Still a few tourists looking around but a better place for a bargain I think. Much more pottery/ceramic focused though.
Just what I was looking for - a life sized statue with a detachable head. Awesome.
I went back via the Yuyuan Bazaar to make a trip to the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, Shanghai's most famous dumpling restaurant. Unfortunately, being dinner time, a lot of other people had exactly the same idea. I had to wait in line for about half an hour, but got to see the dumplings being hand-made, which was quite entertaining (when they get going you'd be amazed at how fast they put them together). When I finally got my hands on the dumplings, I was happy I had stopped by. They were delicious. I took a few more photos in Yuyuan and along the Bund before going home.
Yuyuan night photos.
Bund night photos.
Got home at around 9:30pm and resisted the urge to get changed and go out drinking. To be honest, I was pretty tired - I did a lot of walking yesterday. Just out of interest I jumped on to Google Maps and measured the route that I walked - when I add that to the 4km to get to and from the subway station, I walked a little over 16km for the day. Not a bad effort. And yes, I am a nerd.
Today I did another shopping trip (things like extra pillows and towels in preparation for visitors in a few weeks) and walked up past the office just because I (surprisingly) had the energy. I ended up doing about another 10km today. That makes me feel slightly less fat.
After my massive weekend last week (as evidenced by the 3-part post titled 'Massive weekend'), I had vowed to spend a Friday, Saturday and Sunday alcohol free. I'm pleased to say that I didn't have a single beer for the entire weekend, and as a result got some sightseeing in.
Friday night I stayed in and got out my Lonely Planet Shanghai City Guide. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I skipped through the various sections to find out what they had to say about places I had and hadn't been to. I decided that I wanted to spent a bit of time in Old Town, which is the area south of the Bund, still next to the Huangpu river on the Puxi side. I worked out where I needed to go, wrote down some details of the walking path I wanted to take, and waited for Saturday morning to arrive.
Which it inevitably did...along with a downpour. It rained fairly steadily most of the morning, but cleared up around lunchtime. I did a quick shopping trip and then hopped on the subway to get over to Puxi. I got off at East Nanjing Rd and walked 10 minutes down to the Bund (along with hundreds of other people), where I took a few pictures. I've uploaded a couple below:
A huge statue of Chen Yi, the first Communist Mayor of Shanghai.
The Oriental Pearl TV tower in Pudong.
One of the boats that you can take for a cruise along the river.
The Pudong skyline.
Some of the old buildings along the Bund.
I spent about an hour or so wandering along the Bund before I made my way over to the Old Town area. I started off at the Yuyuan Bazaar, which is a maze of laneways and shops selling every type of trinket you can imagine. Tourists abound in this area - looking for souvenirs and taking photos of everything in sight. With good reason; the buildings are a wonderful example of older Chinese architecture. The beautiful Yuyuan Gardens (I went there a few years ago) are right next to the Bazaar, but I didn't go inside due to time constraints. I'll go back another time.
Here are some photos of the Bazaar area and surroundings:
A dragon's head pops out over the wall of the Yuyuan Gardens.
The classic sight of two dragons guarding a building...surrounded by a Pizza Hut and Pepsi logo.
One of the buildings inside the Bazaar area.
Lots of people visiting on a Saturday afternoon.
Huxinting Teahouse, which was built back in 1784. Guests include Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton and Andrew Smith (I had a meal there back in 2007, very nice food).
The Bridge of Nine Turns which criss-crosses the lake beside the teahouse. Supposedly built this way because evil spirits are unable to turn corners.
I spent about an hour or so in the Bazaar, and then went off on a wander around the other parts of Old Town. More photos:
Stores everywhere. There are bargains to be had but it's a tourist area, so you have to haggle.
The entrance to the Dragon Mall. There's a waterfall on each side of this structure, and every so often steam starts shooting out of it. Pretty cool.
Baiyun Temple. Open until 5, I got there just afterwards so couldn't go in. Next time.
Dongtai Rd Antiques Market. A few blocks away from the Yuyuan Bazaar and much more low-key. Still a few tourists looking around but a better place for a bargain I think. Much more pottery/ceramic focused though.
Just what I was looking for - a life sized statue with a detachable head. Awesome.
I went back via the Yuyuan Bazaar to make a trip to the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, Shanghai's most famous dumpling restaurant. Unfortunately, being dinner time, a lot of other people had exactly the same idea. I had to wait in line for about half an hour, but got to see the dumplings being hand-made, which was quite entertaining (when they get going you'd be amazed at how fast they put them together). When I finally got my hands on the dumplings, I was happy I had stopped by. They were delicious. I took a few more photos in Yuyuan and along the Bund before going home.
Yuyuan night photos.
Bund night photos.
Got home at around 9:30pm and resisted the urge to get changed and go out drinking. To be honest, I was pretty tired - I did a lot of walking yesterday. Just out of interest I jumped on to Google Maps and measured the route that I walked - when I add that to the 4km to get to and from the subway station, I walked a little over 16km for the day. Not a bad effort. And yes, I am a nerd.
Today I did another shopping trip (things like extra pillows and towels in preparation for visitors in a few weeks) and walked up past the office just because I (surprisingly) had the energy. I ended up doing about another 10km today. That makes me feel slightly less fat.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Massive weekend - part 3
Saturday night was another night of bar-hopping. I decided to concentrate my attentions on Hengshan Rd, which is possibly the most famous bar-area in Shanghai (or so I've been told). It's a couple of kms south-west of Windows Scoreboard, where I went on Friday night. I caught the train at about 8:30 or so (trains stop running at around 11) and was there in about 25 minutes or so. First stop - food.
I wandered along the road looking for restaurants and happened across a Papa Johns pizza place. Always happy to partake in a pizza, I demolished a small meatlovers and went on my way again (note: pizza in Shanghai is expensive. The small pizza and a coke cost me almost $20. Not all food is cheap here).
I had a few places in mind that I wanted to look at - Cottons, Beaver and Bulldog bar. I started by walking past Cottons - very few people inside but looked promising. Good seating outside, looks like a good place to go in warmer weather and relax outside with friends. I moved on from there and went over to the Beaver bar - this was pretty small. Mostly full of expats, couple of dart-boards but basically the smallest bar I'd been to yet. Didn't stay for a beer, moved on to the Bulldog.
Upon arriving at the Bulldog two things became immediately apparent: one, that it used to be called the British Bulldog, and two; the British influence was still there. The place was absolutely packed with Poms, and the reason was that Liverpool was playing Manchester United on every one of the 6 or so TVs they had in the place. I silently groaned as I walked in (as everyone knows that soccer is the most boring sport ever invented) but decided I'd stick it out for a few beers. Took a while to get served due to the crowd, but I finally settled in near the bar. Drinks were expensive but they had a 2 for 1 deal, so as long as you were willing to have the extra one, it didn't work out too badly. I struck up a conversation with a Kiwi girl named Natalie and an American named Steve and we for the most part completed ignored the match and just kept downing beers. The place emptied out around midnight after the soccer finished, and Natalie left soon after, but Steve and I stayed around until about 1:30 or so. He was ready to call it a night but I suggested we swing by a club I'd passed before he went home. We walked down the road to be accosted by quite a few people begging (with their 3-4 year old kids begging as well, not cool) and past one intrepid fellow who was selling crockery sets on the sidewalk. Because there's a big market for plates and bowls etc at 2am.
Anyway, the name of the club we were going to was Mao, and it's pretty funky. Very expensive to get in ($20 or so) and it only stays open until 4am. It may be cheaper if you get there earlier; I don't know. Anyway, we walked in to find a fairly smallish nightclub with a big bar in the middle. Not much room to dance but there were people giving it their best shot. There were a couple of girls dancing on podiums wearing, well, not much, and at the other end of the bar was the strange sight of a man dressed up like a Minotaur writhing and gyrating with two girls dressed as cats. As I said, a bit funky. We had a couple of beers and then Steve decided to hit the road. I stayed on until about 3:30 and then figured I'd have a look at one more place.
After 4am, your options become a bit more limited in Shanghai. There was a place just down the road from Mao named the Dragon club, which stays open until 8am. As some people back in Melbourne will know, I've had my fair share of 7am finishes on a Sunday morning, but when you're out drinking by yourself it seems a little bit harder to stay out that long. I wandered into the somewhat-hard-to-find Dragon (or maybe it was just because of how much I'd been drinking) and paid the $10 entry fee. The place was pretty dead when I first got in there, but the music was pretty good and the crowd picked up just after 4 (when people started arriving after being kicked out of the other places nearby). I had a couple of drinks there and left at 4:30.
I had originally planned to go home at this point, but I had read about a diner that stays open 24 hours a day back in Tongren Rd. I got a taxi and asked him to take me there. He dropped me off at the start of the bar area I'd been to the night before - that was a mistake. At this point I found out about the persistance and enthusiasm of the 'ladies of the night' in Shanghai. There were about a dozen girls of varying ages outside the bars on Tongren Rd, and as soon as they saw me coming they immediately came over and started asking if I wanted to take them home and telling me their prices. A couple were brazen enough to start grabbing me and rubbing my chest while they were telling me how good they were.
It was awesome.
No seriously, it was a bit disturbing. I was half dragged to a taxi by one girl who simply did not understand that I was saying no. I finally managed to disentangle myself from her grasp and got into the diner. After walking upstairs I placed my order (ham and cheese omlette and an orange juice) and found that I had free wi-fi internet on my iPhone, so I very nerdily updated my Facebook status while I was waiting for the food. The omelette came and it was delicious (once again, possibly tainted by how much beer I had consumed) and I left very satisfied. Got a taxi right outside the door and was dropped off at my apartment at 5:30am.
Sunday, as you would expect, was spent mostly curled up on the couch. I actually went out and did some shopping at one point because I had nothing to eat at all, but overall it was a very lazy day.
This weekend: gas-free. That is my pledge - let's see if I can stick to it.
I wandered along the road looking for restaurants and happened across a Papa Johns pizza place. Always happy to partake in a pizza, I demolished a small meatlovers and went on my way again (note: pizza in Shanghai is expensive. The small pizza and a coke cost me almost $20. Not all food is cheap here).
I had a few places in mind that I wanted to look at - Cottons, Beaver and Bulldog bar. I started by walking past Cottons - very few people inside but looked promising. Good seating outside, looks like a good place to go in warmer weather and relax outside with friends. I moved on from there and went over to the Beaver bar - this was pretty small. Mostly full of expats, couple of dart-boards but basically the smallest bar I'd been to yet. Didn't stay for a beer, moved on to the Bulldog.
Upon arriving at the Bulldog two things became immediately apparent: one, that it used to be called the British Bulldog, and two; the British influence was still there. The place was absolutely packed with Poms, and the reason was that Liverpool was playing Manchester United on every one of the 6 or so TVs they had in the place. I silently groaned as I walked in (as everyone knows that soccer is the most boring sport ever invented) but decided I'd stick it out for a few beers. Took a while to get served due to the crowd, but I finally settled in near the bar. Drinks were expensive but they had a 2 for 1 deal, so as long as you were willing to have the extra one, it didn't work out too badly. I struck up a conversation with a Kiwi girl named Natalie and an American named Steve and we for the most part completed ignored the match and just kept downing beers. The place emptied out around midnight after the soccer finished, and Natalie left soon after, but Steve and I stayed around until about 1:30 or so. He was ready to call it a night but I suggested we swing by a club I'd passed before he went home. We walked down the road to be accosted by quite a few people begging (with their 3-4 year old kids begging as well, not cool) and past one intrepid fellow who was selling crockery sets on the sidewalk. Because there's a big market for plates and bowls etc at 2am.
Anyway, the name of the club we were going to was Mao, and it's pretty funky. Very expensive to get in ($20 or so) and it only stays open until 4am. It may be cheaper if you get there earlier; I don't know. Anyway, we walked in to find a fairly smallish nightclub with a big bar in the middle. Not much room to dance but there were people giving it their best shot. There were a couple of girls dancing on podiums wearing, well, not much, and at the other end of the bar was the strange sight of a man dressed up like a Minotaur writhing and gyrating with two girls dressed as cats. As I said, a bit funky. We had a couple of beers and then Steve decided to hit the road. I stayed on until about 3:30 and then figured I'd have a look at one more place.
After 4am, your options become a bit more limited in Shanghai. There was a place just down the road from Mao named the Dragon club, which stays open until 8am. As some people back in Melbourne will know, I've had my fair share of 7am finishes on a Sunday morning, but when you're out drinking by yourself it seems a little bit harder to stay out that long. I wandered into the somewhat-hard-to-find Dragon (or maybe it was just because of how much I'd been drinking) and paid the $10 entry fee. The place was pretty dead when I first got in there, but the music was pretty good and the crowd picked up just after 4 (when people started arriving after being kicked out of the other places nearby). I had a couple of drinks there and left at 4:30.
I had originally planned to go home at this point, but I had read about a diner that stays open 24 hours a day back in Tongren Rd. I got a taxi and asked him to take me there. He dropped me off at the start of the bar area I'd been to the night before - that was a mistake. At this point I found out about the persistance and enthusiasm of the 'ladies of the night' in Shanghai. There were about a dozen girls of varying ages outside the bars on Tongren Rd, and as soon as they saw me coming they immediately came over and started asking if I wanted to take them home and telling me their prices. A couple were brazen enough to start grabbing me and rubbing my chest while they were telling me how good they were.
It was awesome.
No seriously, it was a bit disturbing. I was half dragged to a taxi by one girl who simply did not understand that I was saying no. I finally managed to disentangle myself from her grasp and got into the diner. After walking upstairs I placed my order (ham and cheese omlette and an orange juice) and found that I had free wi-fi internet on my iPhone, so I very nerdily updated my Facebook status while I was waiting for the food. The omelette came and it was delicious (once again, possibly tainted by how much beer I had consumed) and I left very satisfied. Got a taxi right outside the door and was dropped off at my apartment at 5:30am.
Sunday, as you would expect, was spent mostly curled up on the couch. I actually went out and did some shopping at one point because I had nothing to eat at all, but overall it was a very lazy day.
This weekend: gas-free. That is my pledge - let's see if I can stick to it.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Massive weekend - part 2
So after I left Windows Scoreboard I was off to the Blue Frog (another $3 taxi ride). The Blue Frog bar is on Tongren Rd, which is a pretty famous bar strip in Shanghai. It's quite a strange sight actually - you turn onto the road, and the first hundred metres or so is packed with a dozen different bars. Each one has a couple of pretty girls out the front and they shout out a welcome and invite in everyone that passes by. The Blue Frog is about the second-last one, so I had to walk past all the others first to get to it.
Upon entering it looked pretty small. The downstairs area has a DJ and bar, and a number of tables along the side. It was quite busy, and initially the only place I could stand was right in front of the bartender as he was mixing drinks. A few minutes later a table freed up, and I was able to sit down and enjoy my (reasonably priced) beer and some complimentary nuts. I had a quick flick through the menu while I was there; they have a pretty good range of drinks (and a hundred-shots challenge that I can't imagine anyone completing), and a good range of bar meals too. It's actually a multi-level place - second floor is a restaurant, and the third floor a lounge area. It'd be a good place to go with a few friends and relax for a bit. I stayed there for a few beers, and then went off to my final establishment of the evening - Studio 78.
Studio 78 is actually only two doors down from Blue Frog, so I didn't have far to go. It isn't particularly well-labeled, but you get into an elevator and go up one flight and there it is. It was bigger than Blue Frog, and actually had a dance floor which was a reasonable size and some very comfortable couches around the place, although it wasn't very busy. There wasn't anyone at the entrance when I walked in, so I wandered straight up to the bar and asked for a pint of Tiger. The barman handed it over and went about his business...and didn't ask me for any money.
Around this time I notice the sign on the table which said 'Open Bar Drinks', and then had a list of drinks underneath it. A lightbulb blinked on inside my head, and my inner child gleefully informed me that I had stumbled across free beer. I suspect that the establishment was having one of those nights (which are quite popular here in Shanghai) where you pay something like $AUS20-50 at the door and get free drinks for the rest of the night. I must have walked in at a time when the door-person was having a break, and so didn't have to pay any money.
Now I don't know about you, but when I get free alcohol of any kind, it's hard to pass up. So although I had been originally planning on only have a few drinks during my bar investigation night, I ended up getting pretty smashed. I think I had 3 or 4 pints at Studio 78, after which time I mustered up the courage to walk out as I knew I had things to do on Saturday and didn't want to be too hungover. I was quite proud of myself actually. I went outside and got into a taxi and got home just after 2. Cost to get home: $AUS10. Awesome.
Saturday I woke up mostly hangover free, which I was quite pleased about. I did a bit of research on the interwebs to determine which bars I would be going to Saturday night. Then I got my gear together and jogged up the road to the basketball courts where I had played the previous week. Got there by 11 and found both courts empty, which was great. However I'd only been shooting around for 10 minutes when a young Chinese guy came up and asked to play one on one. We did that for about half an hour or so by which time a group of guys had come along to the other court. We organised a 3 on 3 matchup and spent the next 90 minutes trying to outdoor each other on the court. It was heaps of fun. By this time it was midafternoon and I was getting hungry, so I made my apologies and left. I made a quick detour up the road to the DVD place I'd gone the previous week to pay them the rest of the money I owed, and then went home for a late lunch.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies, before getting changed and heading out on the town again. More about that in the next post.
Upon entering it looked pretty small. The downstairs area has a DJ and bar, and a number of tables along the side. It was quite busy, and initially the only place I could stand was right in front of the bartender as he was mixing drinks. A few minutes later a table freed up, and I was able to sit down and enjoy my (reasonably priced) beer and some complimentary nuts. I had a quick flick through the menu while I was there; they have a pretty good range of drinks (and a hundred-shots challenge that I can't imagine anyone completing), and a good range of bar meals too. It's actually a multi-level place - second floor is a restaurant, and the third floor a lounge area. It'd be a good place to go with a few friends and relax for a bit. I stayed there for a few beers, and then went off to my final establishment of the evening - Studio 78.
Studio 78 is actually only two doors down from Blue Frog, so I didn't have far to go. It isn't particularly well-labeled, but you get into an elevator and go up one flight and there it is. It was bigger than Blue Frog, and actually had a dance floor which was a reasonable size and some very comfortable couches around the place, although it wasn't very busy. There wasn't anyone at the entrance when I walked in, so I wandered straight up to the bar and asked for a pint of Tiger. The barman handed it over and went about his business...and didn't ask me for any money.
Around this time I notice the sign on the table which said 'Open Bar Drinks', and then had a list of drinks underneath it. A lightbulb blinked on inside my head, and my inner child gleefully informed me that I had stumbled across free beer. I suspect that the establishment was having one of those nights (which are quite popular here in Shanghai) where you pay something like $AUS20-50 at the door and get free drinks for the rest of the night. I must have walked in at a time when the door-person was having a break, and so didn't have to pay any money.
Now I don't know about you, but when I get free alcohol of any kind, it's hard to pass up. So although I had been originally planning on only have a few drinks during my bar investigation night, I ended up getting pretty smashed. I think I had 3 or 4 pints at Studio 78, after which time I mustered up the courage to walk out as I knew I had things to do on Saturday and didn't want to be too hungover. I was quite proud of myself actually. I went outside and got into a taxi and got home just after 2. Cost to get home: $AUS10. Awesome.
Saturday I woke up mostly hangover free, which I was quite pleased about. I did a bit of research on the interwebs to determine which bars I would be going to Saturday night. Then I got my gear together and jogged up the road to the basketball courts where I had played the previous week. Got there by 11 and found both courts empty, which was great. However I'd only been shooting around for 10 minutes when a young Chinese guy came up and asked to play one on one. We did that for about half an hour or so by which time a group of guys had come along to the other court. We organised a 3 on 3 matchup and spent the next 90 minutes trying to outdoor each other on the court. It was heaps of fun. By this time it was midafternoon and I was getting hungry, so I made my apologies and left. I made a quick detour up the road to the DVD place I'd gone the previous week to pay them the rest of the money I owed, and then went home for a late lunch.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies, before getting changed and heading out on the town again. More about that in the next post.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Massive weekend - part 1
Ok, so I've had a fairly busy weekend. Well, today has been fairly slow due to a massive hangover, so I guess it would be more accurate so say that I had a busy Friday night/Saturday/Saturday night/Sunday morning. In fact, it was so massive that I'm splitting it into three posts.
Friday night after work I wolfed down some dumplings and decided to venture over to Puxi to have a bit of a stroll along Nanjing Rd, which is the main shopping street in Shanghai. For those of you that haven't been to Nanjing Rd, it's a long street with shops/restaurants lining the sides. It's closed to traffic, so it's basically a pedestrian shopping strip. It's extremely popular with tourists and as you walk along, it's not uncommon to see people posing for photos in front of particular stores/landmarks.
I jumped on a train just after 9 and was there in about 20 minutes. I took my new camera along to try out some night shots (I still think I have some tweaking to do there - I'll post some pics shortly). As I wandered down the road, I was approached at least every 2 or 3 minutes by guys in their twenties asking me if I wanted to buy a watch, or DVDs. As I said, it's a big tourist area, so there are plenty of people around trying to make money. I've been down the road plenty of times before, so I knew what to expect (I was warned about such things during my first trip to Shanghai). You have two choices here: if you are interested in buying something, you can let them know, and they'll take you off the main strip through a maze of alleyways into some shady establishment where you'll be shown into a room to look at whatever merchandise you were interested in.
The second option, to be employed if you do not want to buy anything, is to say no or simply ignore them. I had my headphones on with music up fairly loud, so while I saw them approach, I didn't actually hear which products they were spruiking. Most of the time I just shook my head and they quickly moved away again.
It wasn't just young guys approaching me - the girls get in on the action too. I was approached by some girls on a number of occasions - usually in pairs. They typically start out by asking where you are from and ask if it's ok to walk along with you and practice their English. While this sounds harmless, the girls then usually suggest to go to a nearby shop/bar and have a coffee to continue talking/get to know you better. Also sounds harmless...but I've heard tales of people ordering a coffee and having whisky or something like that brought out at hyper-inflated prices. Or getting stuck with the bill after the girls order food/drinks/whatever else. Once again, two ways of dealing with it - you can either ignore them, or answer their questions and (politely) refuse any of their suggestions.
So anyway, I strolled along Nanjing Rd for about half an hour taking pictures and just looking around. I ended up walking all the way to The Bund, which is an area along the western side of the Huangpu River. The Bund has lots of historical buildings and is also a pretty popular tourist area. I went over to take some pictures of the view across the river, which includes the Oriental Pearl TV tower (I'll upload the pics if any of them turned out well). By this time I was getting kind of thirsty, so I figured I'd head out in search of beer. I had three places in mind that I wanted to check out - Windows Scoreboard, Blue Frog and Studio 78. I started at Windows Scoreboard.
The oddly named Windows Scoreboard was a short (10 minutes or so) taxi ride away from The Bund (it cost me $3). I liked what I saw when I walked in - plenty of seating (pretty much all occupied), a couple of big TVs with various sports playing, a few dart boards and a big pool table. The place was absolutely packed, and seems to be a popular expat hangout as there were far more foreigners than locals. I squeezed my way up to the bar where I got my first happy surprise for the night - extremely cheap beer. A bottle of Tiger was only $AUS2. Sweet. I had a couple of beers over the next hour while watching some of the NCAA basketball, and then left. I still had two more places to visit and wasn't planning on having a massive night.
A foolish, foolish dream.
This ends part 1 - next up, the other two bars on Friday night and my day of physical activity on Saturday.
Friday night after work I wolfed down some dumplings and decided to venture over to Puxi to have a bit of a stroll along Nanjing Rd, which is the main shopping street in Shanghai. For those of you that haven't been to Nanjing Rd, it's a long street with shops/restaurants lining the sides. It's closed to traffic, so it's basically a pedestrian shopping strip. It's extremely popular with tourists and as you walk along, it's not uncommon to see people posing for photos in front of particular stores/landmarks.
I jumped on a train just after 9 and was there in about 20 minutes. I took my new camera along to try out some night shots (I still think I have some tweaking to do there - I'll post some pics shortly). As I wandered down the road, I was approached at least every 2 or 3 minutes by guys in their twenties asking me if I wanted to buy a watch, or DVDs. As I said, it's a big tourist area, so there are plenty of people around trying to make money. I've been down the road plenty of times before, so I knew what to expect (I was warned about such things during my first trip to Shanghai). You have two choices here: if you are interested in buying something, you can let them know, and they'll take you off the main strip through a maze of alleyways into some shady establishment where you'll be shown into a room to look at whatever merchandise you were interested in.
The second option, to be employed if you do not want to buy anything, is to say no or simply ignore them. I had my headphones on with music up fairly loud, so while I saw them approach, I didn't actually hear which products they were spruiking. Most of the time I just shook my head and they quickly moved away again.
It wasn't just young guys approaching me - the girls get in on the action too. I was approached by some girls on a number of occasions - usually in pairs. They typically start out by asking where you are from and ask if it's ok to walk along with you and practice their English. While this sounds harmless, the girls then usually suggest to go to a nearby shop/bar and have a coffee to continue talking/get to know you better. Also sounds harmless...but I've heard tales of people ordering a coffee and having whisky or something like that brought out at hyper-inflated prices. Or getting stuck with the bill after the girls order food/drinks/whatever else. Once again, two ways of dealing with it - you can either ignore them, or answer their questions and (politely) refuse any of their suggestions.
So anyway, I strolled along Nanjing Rd for about half an hour taking pictures and just looking around. I ended up walking all the way to The Bund, which is an area along the western side of the Huangpu River. The Bund has lots of historical buildings and is also a pretty popular tourist area. I went over to take some pictures of the view across the river, which includes the Oriental Pearl TV tower (I'll upload the pics if any of them turned out well). By this time I was getting kind of thirsty, so I figured I'd head out in search of beer. I had three places in mind that I wanted to check out - Windows Scoreboard, Blue Frog and Studio 78. I started at Windows Scoreboard.
The oddly named Windows Scoreboard was a short (10 minutes or so) taxi ride away from The Bund (it cost me $3). I liked what I saw when I walked in - plenty of seating (pretty much all occupied), a couple of big TVs with various sports playing, a few dart boards and a big pool table. The place was absolutely packed, and seems to be a popular expat hangout as there were far more foreigners than locals. I squeezed my way up to the bar where I got my first happy surprise for the night - extremely cheap beer. A bottle of Tiger was only $AUS2. Sweet. I had a couple of beers over the next hour while watching some of the NCAA basketball, and then left. I still had two more places to visit and wasn't planning on having a massive night.
A foolish, foolish dream.
This ends part 1 - next up, the other two bars on Friday night and my day of physical activity on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Happiness in the tummy
Ah yes. Happiness in the tummy. That is what I currently have. Tonight, I had Chinese hot pot for dinner.
For those that have not had Chinese hot pot, I weep for you. It's kind of like fondue...at least that's what I've been told, as I've never actually eaten fondue. But I digress. The Chinese name for hot pot is huǒ guō, which I believe translates to "this food is so awesome you must eat it until you are unable to do up the top two buttons of your pants". Basically, you get a big pot of spiced stock/broth in the middle of the table. The pot simmers away, and you add thinly-sliced meat, vegetables - whatever you decide to order - and cook it there at the table.
I went along with three other guys from work, and we absolutely went to town. We had beef, lamb, mushrooms, noodles, bean shoots, sausage and a few other things. One item that I was a little hesitant to try was 'blood tofu'. This is a tofu-like substance which is essentially comprised of the blood of different animals, such as pig, duck and cow. Mmm...blood. Believe it or not, it actually tasted pretty good...although that might have been because I had covered it in chilli before I ate it.
Anyway, we stayed there eating for almost two hours, and along with the beers (you can be arrested if you have hot pot and don't drink beer with it) I ended up consuming far more than I should have. Although the restaurant was only 3km from my apartment, it took me a good hour to waddle home, holding my belly and groaning. Was it worth it? You know it.
In other news, I may be going back to Australia sooner than I expected. Like 7 months sooner. Yesterday I attempted to get a resident permit to allow me to stay here for the rest of the year. I had a girl from the office along to help translate for me (thank god she was there or I would have gotten nowhere fast). We first went to a police station, where I got in trouble because I didn't register with them within 24 hours of arriving in the country. Turns out that if you aren't staying in a hotel, you have to register with the local police station. I'd never had to do it before because before this trip, I was always staying in a hotel. So they yelled at me for that.
From there, we moved onto the consulate/embassy/government building where they do visas etc. We rocked up at 2:30 and got given a ticket with the number 497 on it. We looked up at the screen to see what number was being processed: 324. Damn it! We ended up having to wait more than one and a half hours before we finally got called up...only to be told that I wasn't eligible for a resident permit due to the sucky type of visa that I'd been given in Australia. They said the best they could do is a 3-month single entry visa, which will expire in mid-May. At that time, I have to get the hell out of the country.
As it turns out, this could work out well. Looks like the customer wants to go on a bit of a junket over to Australia sometime in May, and they want me to go over with them and show them around for a week or so. So it looks like I'll be back in Melbourne early/mid May for a week or two. Then it's back over to Shanghai...possibly only for another three months. It looks like rather than trying to get me a long-term permit, the company may be happy to simply fly me back to Australia for a week or so every 3 months. If that is indeed the case, I am not complaining.
For those that have not had Chinese hot pot, I weep for you. It's kind of like fondue...at least that's what I've been told, as I've never actually eaten fondue. But I digress. The Chinese name for hot pot is huǒ guō, which I believe translates to "this food is so awesome you must eat it until you are unable to do up the top two buttons of your pants". Basically, you get a big pot of spiced stock/broth in the middle of the table. The pot simmers away, and you add thinly-sliced meat, vegetables - whatever you decide to order - and cook it there at the table.
I went along with three other guys from work, and we absolutely went to town. We had beef, lamb, mushrooms, noodles, bean shoots, sausage and a few other things. One item that I was a little hesitant to try was 'blood tofu'. This is a tofu-like substance which is essentially comprised of the blood of different animals, such as pig, duck and cow. Mmm...blood. Believe it or not, it actually tasted pretty good...although that might have been because I had covered it in chilli before I ate it.
Anyway, we stayed there eating for almost two hours, and along with the beers (you can be arrested if you have hot pot and don't drink beer with it) I ended up consuming far more than I should have. Although the restaurant was only 3km from my apartment, it took me a good hour to waddle home, holding my belly and groaning. Was it worth it? You know it.
In other news, I may be going back to Australia sooner than I expected. Like 7 months sooner. Yesterday I attempted to get a resident permit to allow me to stay here for the rest of the year. I had a girl from the office along to help translate for me (thank god she was there or I would have gotten nowhere fast). We first went to a police station, where I got in trouble because I didn't register with them within 24 hours of arriving in the country. Turns out that if you aren't staying in a hotel, you have to register with the local police station. I'd never had to do it before because before this trip, I was always staying in a hotel. So they yelled at me for that.
From there, we moved onto the consulate/embassy/government building where they do visas etc. We rocked up at 2:30 and got given a ticket with the number 497 on it. We looked up at the screen to see what number was being processed: 324. Damn it! We ended up having to wait more than one and a half hours before we finally got called up...only to be told that I wasn't eligible for a resident permit due to the sucky type of visa that I'd been given in Australia. They said the best they could do is a 3-month single entry visa, which will expire in mid-May. At that time, I have to get the hell out of the country.
As it turns out, this could work out well. Looks like the customer wants to go on a bit of a junket over to Australia sometime in May, and they want me to go over with them and show them around for a week or so. So it looks like I'll be back in Melbourne early/mid May for a week or two. Then it's back over to Shanghai...possibly only for another three months. It looks like rather than trying to get me a long-term permit, the company may be happy to simply fly me back to Australia for a week or so every 3 months. If that is indeed the case, I am not complaining.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Ok, so it was that kind of wasted
Ow.
Ow.
Ow.
Ok, now that I have that out of my system...
Ow.
My entire body hurts. It's like I have been placed into an extra-extra-large tumble dryer set to maximum. Every time I take a step, my calves scream in agony. A pain like the fire of a thousand suns travels from my legs up to my back with each passing moment. And I have a hangover.
Other than that, things are just peachy.
So yesterday, when I last left you readers hanging for more, I had confided that I was going to go buy some drugs, a DVD player and settle in for a day of trying to shake off my cold.
None of those things happened.
I decided to man up. I said "F%#k this" (which is actually quite difficult - have you ever tried to say a '#' sign out loud? It sounds kind of like "cckkth" but more guttural) and made a decision to get out and do some exercise. I told my body to suck it up (my gut obliged) and I got my gear on, grabbed my basketball and made the 3km trek to the courts next to the office.
To find that they were both occupied. In the immortal words of Jack Bauer: "Damn it!"
Undeterred, I decided I'd walk another couple of km to buy a few DVDs. I had a little bit of cash with me so I figured it was a good way to pass the time while waiting for a court to become available. I wandered up the road (not at all looking like a massive loser with a basketball tucked under one arm) and did some some browsing around. Momentarily swayed by the idea of purchasing the entire 4-season set of Doogie Howser, M.D, I ended up instead purchasing the 7-season set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, I like that show. Abusive comments welcome. Anyway, I didn't quite have enough money to buy it, but somewhat amazingly, the girls in the store were perfectly happy for me to take it anyway. They said 'we trust that you will come back next week with the rest of the cash'.
Suckers.
No seriously, I've bought DVDs there before and they know they'll see me again. Was nice of them though.
Excuse me - if my stomach does not get some food in the next 10 seconds, it will kill me...by...um, starving me to death. That sentence was not well thought out. Back in a jiffy.
...
Right, food has been demolished. And when I say demolished, it was hoover-style. Possibly the fasted meal ever consumed.
Anyway, I trundled back up to the courts with my new purchase...only to find that they were still occupied. Damn it again! This time I decided to sit and wait for a while. Within 20 minutes, one of the courts freed up, so I was able to go out and shoot around. The guys on the court next to me invited me to take part in a game of 3-on-3, which I was more than happy to do. We played for about 2 hours all up (hence the soreness today, I am out of shape) and then I walked back home to have some dinner.
By now I was feeling pretty good, and my cold had subsided, so I figured I'd head out on the town. I went back to Malone's, the place I went last week where I had free vodka. Unfortunately it was very quiet, and there was no free vodka this time, so it wasn't as much fun as last time. I left at about 11 and went to another place called 'The Coconut Bar', which was in the same plaza. This place was very small, but absolutely pumping...and full of German men. I like Germans, I've even been to Germany...but they were everywhere! Major sausage-fest...and not the good kind of sausage-fest, like at a food-type-place where you...um...eat sau...
Ok, there is no way I can salvage that sentence. I stayed at Coconut for a couple of beers and then decided to go to a place that stayed open past 2am. I went to Logo.
Logo is on the other side of the river, in Puxi. I had to get a taxi to get there, and even though it took quite a while, it still only cost me $AUS17. Back home in Melb it would have been at least double that. Anyway, I got to Logo and it was packed. Like sardine packed. I had more intimate contact with people on my way to the bar than I've had in, well, let's not go there.
Anyway, the beer was cheap (Corona for $AUS4 is always welcome) but the fact that it was so busy was kind of a turn off. The other thing that it didn't have going for it was the band. I'm not saying they were the worst band in the world...no wait, I am saying that. They sucked! Needless to say, I didn't stay as long as I would normally. I think the place has potential, but I think I need to get there after 2am. I also need to find out if the band is a regular fixture. If so, I won't be.
I was out of there by 2 and got a taxi back to the apartment. On the way, I stopped by the local 7-11 equivalent and bought myself some hangover food for today.
Which I promptly ate before reaching my front door. The Oreo cookies made it through mostly unscathed, although I have now eaten all of them.
And yes, I feel extremely average. Hangovers are not cool.
Ow.
Ow.
Ok, now that I have that out of my system...
Ow.
My entire body hurts. It's like I have been placed into an extra-extra-large tumble dryer set to maximum. Every time I take a step, my calves scream in agony. A pain like the fire of a thousand suns travels from my legs up to my back with each passing moment. And I have a hangover.
Other than that, things are just peachy.
So yesterday, when I last left you readers hanging for more, I had confided that I was going to go buy some drugs, a DVD player and settle in for a day of trying to shake off my cold.
None of those things happened.
I decided to man up. I said "F%#k this" (which is actually quite difficult - have you ever tried to say a '#' sign out loud? It sounds kind of like "cckkth" but more guttural) and made a decision to get out and do some exercise. I told my body to suck it up (my gut obliged) and I got my gear on, grabbed my basketball and made the 3km trek to the courts next to the office.
To find that they were both occupied. In the immortal words of Jack Bauer: "Damn it!"
Undeterred, I decided I'd walk another couple of km to buy a few DVDs. I had a little bit of cash with me so I figured it was a good way to pass the time while waiting for a court to become available. I wandered up the road (not at all looking like a massive loser with a basketball tucked under one arm) and did some some browsing around. Momentarily swayed by the idea of purchasing the entire 4-season set of Doogie Howser, M.D, I ended up instead purchasing the 7-season set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, I like that show. Abusive comments welcome. Anyway, I didn't quite have enough money to buy it, but somewhat amazingly, the girls in the store were perfectly happy for me to take it anyway. They said 'we trust that you will come back next week with the rest of the cash'.
Suckers.
No seriously, I've bought DVDs there before and they know they'll see me again. Was nice of them though.
Excuse me - if my stomach does not get some food in the next 10 seconds, it will kill me...by...um, starving me to death. That sentence was not well thought out. Back in a jiffy.
...
Right, food has been demolished. And when I say demolished, it was hoover-style. Possibly the fasted meal ever consumed.
Anyway, I trundled back up to the courts with my new purchase...only to find that they were still occupied. Damn it again! This time I decided to sit and wait for a while. Within 20 minutes, one of the courts freed up, so I was able to go out and shoot around. The guys on the court next to me invited me to take part in a game of 3-on-3, which I was more than happy to do. We played for about 2 hours all up (hence the soreness today, I am out of shape) and then I walked back home to have some dinner.
By now I was feeling pretty good, and my cold had subsided, so I figured I'd head out on the town. I went back to Malone's, the place I went last week where I had free vodka. Unfortunately it was very quiet, and there was no free vodka this time, so it wasn't as much fun as last time. I left at about 11 and went to another place called 'The Coconut Bar', which was in the same plaza. This place was very small, but absolutely pumping...and full of German men. I like Germans, I've even been to Germany...but they were everywhere! Major sausage-fest...and not the good kind of sausage-fest, like at a food-type-place where you...um...eat sau...
Ok, there is no way I can salvage that sentence. I stayed at Coconut for a couple of beers and then decided to go to a place that stayed open past 2am. I went to Logo.
Logo is on the other side of the river, in Puxi. I had to get a taxi to get there, and even though it took quite a while, it still only cost me $AUS17. Back home in Melb it would have been at least double that. Anyway, I got to Logo and it was packed. Like sardine packed. I had more intimate contact with people on my way to the bar than I've had in, well, let's not go there.
Anyway, the beer was cheap (Corona for $AUS4 is always welcome) but the fact that it was so busy was kind of a turn off. The other thing that it didn't have going for it was the band. I'm not saying they were the worst band in the world...no wait, I am saying that. They sucked! Needless to say, I didn't stay as long as I would normally. I think the place has potential, but I think I need to get there after 2am. I also need to find out if the band is a regular fixture. If so, I won't be.
I was out of there by 2 and got a taxi back to the apartment. On the way, I stopped by the local 7-11 equivalent and bought myself some hangover food for today.
Which I promptly ate before reaching my front door. The Oreo cookies made it through mostly unscathed, although I have now eaten all of them.
And yes, I feel extremely average. Hangovers are not cool.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Wasted (not that kind of wasted) weekend
Last night I went for a run, ate a healthy dinner and did some cleaning around the apartment. On a FRIDAY night. Yes, I'm scared that the universe is about to explode too.
I am breaking in my new pair of shoes, so I only made it about 5km before having to stop due to the sharp stabbing pain in my right foot. Took off the shoe to discover one of the biggest blisters ever. Awesome. In addition, I've woken up this morning with a sore throat and nasty cough, and have absolutely no medicine to combat either. So my original plan of exploring a bit more of Shanghai has kind of gone out the window. My plan now is:
1. Hobble down the road and buy drugs. Lots of drugs.
2. Hobble slightly further to the big shopping centre to buy myself a DVD player.
3. Watch DVDs all day long and will my body to shake off this sickness so that I can still go out somewhere tonight and gas on (I'm still keeping my priorities in order).
I'll keep you updated.
I am breaking in my new pair of shoes, so I only made it about 5km before having to stop due to the sharp stabbing pain in my right foot. Took off the shoe to discover one of the biggest blisters ever. Awesome. In addition, I've woken up this morning with a sore throat and nasty cough, and have absolutely no medicine to combat either. So my original plan of exploring a bit more of Shanghai has kind of gone out the window. My plan now is:
1. Hobble down the road and buy drugs. Lots of drugs.
2. Hobble slightly further to the big shopping centre to buy myself a DVD player.
3. Watch DVDs all day long and will my body to shake off this sickness so that I can still go out somewhere tonight and gas on (I'm still keeping my priorities in order).
I'll keep you updated.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Free alcohol - it's the best kind
Yesterday I had a great day, which was topped off by drinking free vodka. But let me start at the beginning.
Got up around 10, and spent the next 15 minutes doing various stretching exercises to try to reattain a full range of movement (I hate my mattress!). I then walked to the closest train station (about 1.5km or so) and hopped on the number 4 line to the 'Shanghai Indoor Stadium' station.
Just a quick side-note here. Trains in Shanghai are fairly similar to trains in Melbourne, in the following respects:
Anyway, I got out at the stadium station (may have to go back there at some point to actually have a look at the stadium) and walked north for about a kilometre where I arrived at a shopping centre named 'Metro City'. This place is a gadget-lover's dream. Multiple stories of the latest technology, including phones, cameras, game consoles, PC parts - you name it, they have it. I was specifically looking for a new digital camera as the current Sony that I have is, in the words of Homer Simpon, the "suckiest suck that ever sucked". I read good things about the Canon IXUS 80 IS, so I made some inquiries at a few stores to see how much it was going to cost me. I started off at the official Canon-branded store - that was a mistake.
Upon walking in, I was approached by a staff member obviously eager for a sale. After I inquired about the camera, he told me it would be $370. I knew that I could get it cheaper than that and wanted to have a look around. I mentioned that I didn't have that much money, so he grabbed my arm and walked me upstairs to an ATM machine. He then proceeded to watch me like a hawk watches a field mouse just before it swoops in for the kill. After getting some money I managed to extract myself from his clutches, and went on my merry way.
The next stall I went to was entirely due to an attractive sales girl. Yes, I'm prepared to admit it, she was hot and I went in because of her. Her English was pretty good, but she had a problem with my accent and couldn't work out which camera model I was after. She got out some paper and I wrote it down, and she said 'no problem' and quoted me a price which was almost $100 cheaper than the Canon place. This news prompted me to strike up my happy dance, but I quickly stopped when I received some apprehensive looks from the other salespeople in the stall. At this time, I encountered the classic 'bait-and-switch' policy that is famous over here. Obviously it's not just specific to China, but it certainly seems prevalent over here. For those of you not familiar with the bait-and-switch, it basically entails an assistant getting you into the store with the promise of something that you want, only to sit you down and attempt to sell you something more expensive/more profitable. In this case, I knew the exact camera model that I wanted. When the girl told me the price, I was happy to sit down and look at buying it. She called over another sales guy, and gave him some rapid-fire instructions. He disappeared, and we were left alone at the table.
The girl flashed me a disarming (and extremely cute) smile, and proceeded to do her best to sway me from my decision. First she tried to tell me that the camera that I wanted was more than 3 years old, which I knew wasn't true. Then she got out a Panasonic and gave me a quick demonstration of its capabilities. After I wasn't swayed by that, she got out another Canon (bigger and bulkier than the one I wanted) and tried to sell me that instead. I had noticed by now that they didn't actually have the camera that I wanted on display anywhere, and had realised that the sales guy had been sent off in search of the model that I wanted. I politely refused all of her attempts to sell me a different camera, and a few minutes later the other guy returned and said 'bu hao', which means 'no good'. He obviously could not get the camera that I wanted from anywhere else at a price which would have still gotten the girl a profit, so I moved on.
The next few places I went had exactly the same price, but then I happened across a place that was slightly more expensive. I mentioned that I could get the camera cheaper at another place, so they started doing some bargaining. These guys actually had the camera I wanted on display, so they got it out and let me play with it for a while. They ended up throwing in a 2gb memory card and knocking quite a bit off the price, so I bought it from them.
From Metro Plaza I walked to the closest train station and made my way to People's Square, which is one of the busiest train stations I have ever been to. Think Flinders St during peak hour, and you're getting close to the volume of people that seem to be at this station at all times. Anyway, the People's Square station is close to a number of shopping centres (amongst other things), and I was after some new running shoes, so that was my main reason for going there. I started off at the somewhat strangely named 'Raffles City', a multi-storey shopping centre with a number of up-market brands. I spent about an hour looking around but they had a fairly small sporting goods area so I moved on.
From there I wandered down the road until I came across the wonderfully named 'Brilliance Shimao International Plaza'. The first thing that caught my attention was the massive Nike Swoosh on the front of the building. I went in and found a Nike specialty store, and ended up buying some shoes there for a reasonable price. I then went upstairs and found a few more sports stores (including another Nike place, which was a bit strange) and bought some more clothes. I finished up by making a trip to Subway (no meatballs left so I had to get roasted chicken, devastated!) and went over the road to the People's Park to wolf it down.
By now I was pretty tired of shopping. I had been walking around buying things for 5 hours, so decided it was time to take my purchases back to my apartment. I got back home at around 6, and after stuffing around for a bit I got changed and went out in search of beer.
I've noticed that I seem to be in the crap side of town in terms of bars and clubs. I'm on the Pudong side of town, and all the nightlife seems to happen on the Puxi side. However, I found a post on a web forum which mentioned a bar at a place named 'Thumb Plaza' which didn't seem too far away, so I downloaded an image with Chinese instructions on how to get there to my iPhone (nerd alert!) and flagged down a taxi. He dropped me off about 10 minutes later for the grand total of $2 :) On my way over to the bar, I noticed a Nike Factory outlet, so I went in to have a look. The shoes that I had purchased earlier in the day were there, and were $25 cheaper. Damn it! Still, I guess it's good to know that it's there.
Anyhoo, I walked in to the bar and noticed by the accents that there were Americans everywhere. This was not exactly surprising, as the place was owned by an American. I marched up to the bar and asked for a Heineken as it was the first beer that I could see they had on tap. They poured me a pint and I handed over a 100 RMB note. They gave me 40 RMB change...which equates to a $AUD 13.60 pint. Bugger. I drank it down making sure to savour the taste (unfortunately, as those of you who have tried it are already aware, Heineken is a crap beer) and watched some NBA action on the very large TV screen nearby. After finishing the Heineken I moved on to a pint of Tiger (which was much cheaper and arguably tasted better) by which time an English Premier League soccer match had come on. I forced myself to watch the most boring sport ever created for about 10 minutes before my eyes rebelled and threatened to jump out of their sockets if the visual torture continued. Luckily by this stage the band had started playing.
The band is named 'Jagged Edge' and are actually extremely good. The lead male vocalist also plays a mean guitar solo, and they had the decent-sized crowd singing along to a lot of their western-style songs. At this time I noticed a guy making his way through the crowd shaking hands with a lot of people. He had a torch and had been talking with the band before they started, so I figured he was the manager. I happened to know that his name was Mike (from my nerdy internet research), so I went up and introduced myself and complimented the band. He introduced me to his bar manager (Benjamin) and another employee (Elmer, as in Fudd) who was having farewell drinks that night. At this point, I stopped paying for alcohol :)
After talking to the bar manager for a little while, I asked him if he knew what a Midori Illusion Shaker was. He'd never heard of it, so I gave him the ingredients and he called over a bartender to mix it up for us. He made about 4 of them and poured them into 3 glasses for us before I could mention that they are usually drunk from shot glasses. Ben and Elmer loved them, so they may start serving them there from now on. After finishing those, Elmer kept filling up a glass with a lot of Vodka and pouring just a splash of lemonade on top. Not being one to complain about free drinks, I happily consumed everything he put in front of me. This continued until about 1:30am, at which point I was struggling remember my own name. I bid some farewells to my new friends, and stumbled outside to find a taxi. I have a piece of paper in my wallet which contains the address of my apartment in Chinese, so had no problems finding someone who knew how to get me home.
Checked my wallet this morning and it seems that I spent a grand total of $AUD 25 on beer last night. Awesome.
Got up around 10, and spent the next 15 minutes doing various stretching exercises to try to reattain a full range of movement (I hate my mattress!). I then walked to the closest train station (about 1.5km or so) and hopped on the number 4 line to the 'Shanghai Indoor Stadium' station.
Just a quick side-note here. Trains in Shanghai are fairly similar to trains in Melbourne, in the following respects:
- They both carry passengers
- They both run on rails
Anyway, I got out at the stadium station (may have to go back there at some point to actually have a look at the stadium) and walked north for about a kilometre where I arrived at a shopping centre named 'Metro City'. This place is a gadget-lover's dream. Multiple stories of the latest technology, including phones, cameras, game consoles, PC parts - you name it, they have it. I was specifically looking for a new digital camera as the current Sony that I have is, in the words of Homer Simpon, the "suckiest suck that ever sucked". I read good things about the Canon IXUS 80 IS, so I made some inquiries at a few stores to see how much it was going to cost me. I started off at the official Canon-branded store - that was a mistake.
Upon walking in, I was approached by a staff member obviously eager for a sale. After I inquired about the camera, he told me it would be $370. I knew that I could get it cheaper than that and wanted to have a look around. I mentioned that I didn't have that much money, so he grabbed my arm and walked me upstairs to an ATM machine. He then proceeded to watch me like a hawk watches a field mouse just before it swoops in for the kill. After getting some money I managed to extract myself from his clutches, and went on my merry way.
The next stall I went to was entirely due to an attractive sales girl. Yes, I'm prepared to admit it, she was hot and I went in because of her. Her English was pretty good, but she had a problem with my accent and couldn't work out which camera model I was after. She got out some paper and I wrote it down, and she said 'no problem' and quoted me a price which was almost $100 cheaper than the Canon place. This news prompted me to strike up my happy dance, but I quickly stopped when I received some apprehensive looks from the other salespeople in the stall. At this time, I encountered the classic 'bait-and-switch' policy that is famous over here. Obviously it's not just specific to China, but it certainly seems prevalent over here. For those of you not familiar with the bait-and-switch, it basically entails an assistant getting you into the store with the promise of something that you want, only to sit you down and attempt to sell you something more expensive/more profitable. In this case, I knew the exact camera model that I wanted. When the girl told me the price, I was happy to sit down and look at buying it. She called over another sales guy, and gave him some rapid-fire instructions. He disappeared, and we were left alone at the table.
The girl flashed me a disarming (and extremely cute) smile, and proceeded to do her best to sway me from my decision. First she tried to tell me that the camera that I wanted was more than 3 years old, which I knew wasn't true. Then she got out a Panasonic and gave me a quick demonstration of its capabilities. After I wasn't swayed by that, she got out another Canon (bigger and bulkier than the one I wanted) and tried to sell me that instead. I had noticed by now that they didn't actually have the camera that I wanted on display anywhere, and had realised that the sales guy had been sent off in search of the model that I wanted. I politely refused all of her attempts to sell me a different camera, and a few minutes later the other guy returned and said 'bu hao', which means 'no good'. He obviously could not get the camera that I wanted from anywhere else at a price which would have still gotten the girl a profit, so I moved on.
The next few places I went had exactly the same price, but then I happened across a place that was slightly more expensive. I mentioned that I could get the camera cheaper at another place, so they started doing some bargaining. These guys actually had the camera I wanted on display, so they got it out and let me play with it for a while. They ended up throwing in a 2gb memory card and knocking quite a bit off the price, so I bought it from them.
From Metro Plaza I walked to the closest train station and made my way to People's Square, which is one of the busiest train stations I have ever been to. Think Flinders St during peak hour, and you're getting close to the volume of people that seem to be at this station at all times. Anyway, the People's Square station is close to a number of shopping centres (amongst other things), and I was after some new running shoes, so that was my main reason for going there. I started off at the somewhat strangely named 'Raffles City', a multi-storey shopping centre with a number of up-market brands. I spent about an hour looking around but they had a fairly small sporting goods area so I moved on.
From there I wandered down the road until I came across the wonderfully named 'Brilliance Shimao International Plaza'. The first thing that caught my attention was the massive Nike Swoosh on the front of the building. I went in and found a Nike specialty store, and ended up buying some shoes there for a reasonable price. I then went upstairs and found a few more sports stores (including another Nike place, which was a bit strange) and bought some more clothes. I finished up by making a trip to Subway (no meatballs left so I had to get roasted chicken, devastated!) and went over the road to the People's Park to wolf it down.
By now I was pretty tired of shopping. I had been walking around buying things for 5 hours, so decided it was time to take my purchases back to my apartment. I got back home at around 6, and after stuffing around for a bit I got changed and went out in search of beer.
I've noticed that I seem to be in the crap side of town in terms of bars and clubs. I'm on the Pudong side of town, and all the nightlife seems to happen on the Puxi side. However, I found a post on a web forum which mentioned a bar at a place named 'Thumb Plaza' which didn't seem too far away, so I downloaded an image with Chinese instructions on how to get there to my iPhone (nerd alert!) and flagged down a taxi. He dropped me off about 10 minutes later for the grand total of $2 :) On my way over to the bar, I noticed a Nike Factory outlet, so I went in to have a look. The shoes that I had purchased earlier in the day were there, and were $25 cheaper. Damn it! Still, I guess it's good to know that it's there.
Anyhoo, I walked in to the bar and noticed by the accents that there were Americans everywhere. This was not exactly surprising, as the place was owned by an American. I marched up to the bar and asked for a Heineken as it was the first beer that I could see they had on tap. They poured me a pint and I handed over a 100 RMB note. They gave me 40 RMB change...which equates to a $AUD 13.60 pint. Bugger. I drank it down making sure to savour the taste (unfortunately, as those of you who have tried it are already aware, Heineken is a crap beer) and watched some NBA action on the very large TV screen nearby. After finishing the Heineken I moved on to a pint of Tiger (which was much cheaper and arguably tasted better) by which time an English Premier League soccer match had come on. I forced myself to watch the most boring sport ever created for about 10 minutes before my eyes rebelled and threatened to jump out of their sockets if the visual torture continued. Luckily by this stage the band had started playing.
The band is named 'Jagged Edge' and are actually extremely good. The lead male vocalist also plays a mean guitar solo, and they had the decent-sized crowd singing along to a lot of their western-style songs. At this time I noticed a guy making his way through the crowd shaking hands with a lot of people. He had a torch and had been talking with the band before they started, so I figured he was the manager. I happened to know that his name was Mike (from my nerdy internet research), so I went up and introduced myself and complimented the band. He introduced me to his bar manager (Benjamin) and another employee (Elmer, as in Fudd) who was having farewell drinks that night. At this point, I stopped paying for alcohol :)
After talking to the bar manager for a little while, I asked him if he knew what a Midori Illusion Shaker was. He'd never heard of it, so I gave him the ingredients and he called over a bartender to mix it up for us. He made about 4 of them and poured them into 3 glasses for us before I could mention that they are usually drunk from shot glasses. Ben and Elmer loved them, so they may start serving them there from now on. After finishing those, Elmer kept filling up a glass with a lot of Vodka and pouring just a splash of lemonade on top. Not being one to complain about free drinks, I happily consumed everything he put in front of me. This continued until about 1:30am, at which point I was struggling remember my own name. I bid some farewells to my new friends, and stumbled outside to find a taxi. I have a piece of paper in my wallet which contains the address of my apartment in Chinese, so had no problems finding someone who knew how to get me home.
Checked my wallet this morning and it seems that I spent a grand total of $AUD 25 on beer last night. Awesome.
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