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.