Haircut, beer, dancing...it's all happening!

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.