On Saturday I was able to experience my second AFL Grand Final outside of Melbourne. The first occurred back in 2007 when I was over in Honolulu - my co-worker John and I finished up early on the Friday afternoon and made our way to one of the only places on the island which was showing the game...and proceeded to be extremely bored by the absolutely thrashing that Geelong dealt to Port Adelaide. It was good to be able to see the game, but there weren't too many other Aussies there, and the atmosphere was a bit lacking.
Saturday was completely different. The local AFL footy team (the Shanghai Tigers) have been organising a Grand Final day event in Shanghai for the last few years. This year it was held at a pub named Big Bamboo, which I've blogged about before. The game was due to start at 12:30pm local time, and the event began at 11am, so it was an early start for me. I arrived to find the place already extremely full of Aussies - they were everywhere! I paid my entrance fee ($AUD40 for free beer until 6pm and free BBQ lunch), got my complimentary stubby holder and made my way inside. I ran into a few people that I knew almost immediately and sat down at their table. Quickly dispensing with the VB that I'd been given at the door, I moved onto the Pure Blondes and watched with interest as more and more patrons came in through the door.
By the time the telecast started, there must have been around 200 people in the bar; 98% were Australians. We watched with pride as John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes and Mark Seymour performed (You're The Voice with all three of them - awesome!), and when the Australian national anthem was played the entire crowd stood as one and sang our hearts out. It was fantastic! Indeed, aside from being at an actual game at the MCG, it was the biggest group of people I've ever watched an AFL game with.
At half time there was a brief interlude while everyone got some food (delicious BBQ) and the organisers drew raffle tickets and gave out door prizes - I actually won a gift voucher for a meal at a fairly fancy restaurant worth $AUD150 or so - not bad! Haven't used it yet but it's still valid for another month or so. The game itself was extremely exciting and stayed close for the entire 4 quarters. Disappointed that Geelong one (my Dad is a Saints fan) but the quality of the match was excellent considering the conditions.
The day finished at around 6pm local time, when the free beer stopped and the bar reverted to it's normal layout in preparation for the evening crowd. By this stage the majority of patrons that were there for the Grand Final had left, but a few of us continued on. I ended up migrating from there to Xintiandi to get a meal, and then hopped from bar to bar along the strip there until the wee hours of the morning. Finally got home exhausted by 2am - it was a long day, but heaps of fun.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
End of an era: goodbye to The Shed
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my favourite places to gas on in Shanghai, The Shed was due to close soon. Sadly, it came to pass on Saturday. Fate had favoured us with a beautiful sunny day in Shanghai - about 25 degrees, not a cloud in the sky - in short, perfect conditions to spend all day drinking inside a bar smaller than most living rooms.
Word about the closing had spread far and wide, and by the time I rocked up at 1pm the place was already packed. They had a very reasonable deal for the last day of operation: 20rmb ($AUS3) per beer or 100rmb for all you could drink. The words had not even left bartender Steve's mouth before I had handed over my hundy, gotten my first beer out of the fridge and proceeded to swig half of it down. From there, I settled in for a big day, and was not disappointed.
Men, women, and thankfully no children (not the best environment for the kids) passed through the door that day, and when there was no room left inside, they simply spilled out onto the deck. There was a pie warmer complete with meat pies and sausage rolls, of which I consumed many. They had a laptop hooked up to the television to broadcast some horse racing from back home in Aus, which didn't excite me too much but it was a big deal to plenty of other patrons. Eventually the AFL started and we proceeded to see Geelong whip Collingwood, which is always good to see.
As the day progressed things got rowdier. At a certain point someone decided it would be a good idea to start carving up pieces of the bar to take away as mementos of the occasion. I was handed a hacksaw at some point (by one of the owners so it was perfectly sanctioned) and put in a solid bit of work sawing away. I still have some blisters on my hands from helping disassemble the woodend structure. Craziness.
Before we knew it the footy had finished and things wound up at around 10pm. A guy that I'd met during the day (Phil) suggested we take the party to Windows Scoreboard. Always happy to continue consuming relatively cheap beer, I agreed. Upon arriving we sat down with a few beers, but didn't last long there before Phil decided we needed to go to the other Windows establishment (which I had never heard of) named Windows Too. We got a taxi and got there pretty quickly (from what I can recall, I was fairly drunk at this stage) to find the place was about four times bigger than Scoreboard and absolutely full of people.
We took some seats at the bar and proceeded to do some shots of god knows what - I just drank whatever showed up in front of me. A couple of girls sitting nearby invited us to play some dice with them, and we agreed - not remembering that every time we lost a roll of the dice we had to take a drink. As you may imagine, I did not roll well in the state that I was in, which just helped me get drunker faster.
After a while the girls got bored of winning all the time and moved on. It was at this point that Phil decided to get it into his head that he wanted to fight someone and picked out a German guy nearby that was 'looking at him funny'. I had to do some fairly fast talking to change his mind about it (the German guy seemed fairly keen to have a go as well - why do some people get so violent when they drink?) and finally convinced him that it wasn't worth the trouble. At this point he got extremely upset and said that he had 'lost face' in front of all of the other people in the bar (of course he didn't know a single one of them) and left.
This gave me no reason to pause whatsoever, and I proceeded to spend the next couple of hours drinking with a number of random other people that I met just wandering around. Gotta love the nightlife when you're drunk in a foreign country. Finally went home at around 3am and amazingly didn't feel like I was going to die on Sunday. Yes, I'm shocked too.
Word about the closing had spread far and wide, and by the time I rocked up at 1pm the place was already packed. They had a very reasonable deal for the last day of operation: 20rmb ($AUS3) per beer or 100rmb for all you could drink. The words had not even left bartender Steve's mouth before I had handed over my hundy, gotten my first beer out of the fridge and proceeded to swig half of it down. From there, I settled in for a big day, and was not disappointed.
Men, women, and thankfully no children (not the best environment for the kids) passed through the door that day, and when there was no room left inside, they simply spilled out onto the deck. There was a pie warmer complete with meat pies and sausage rolls, of which I consumed many. They had a laptop hooked up to the television to broadcast some horse racing from back home in Aus, which didn't excite me too much but it was a big deal to plenty of other patrons. Eventually the AFL started and we proceeded to see Geelong whip Collingwood, which is always good to see.
As the day progressed things got rowdier. At a certain point someone decided it would be a good idea to start carving up pieces of the bar to take away as mementos of the occasion. I was handed a hacksaw at some point (by one of the owners so it was perfectly sanctioned) and put in a solid bit of work sawing away. I still have some blisters on my hands from helping disassemble the woodend structure. Craziness.
Before we knew it the footy had finished and things wound up at around 10pm. A guy that I'd met during the day (Phil) suggested we take the party to Windows Scoreboard. Always happy to continue consuming relatively cheap beer, I agreed. Upon arriving we sat down with a few beers, but didn't last long there before Phil decided we needed to go to the other Windows establishment (which I had never heard of) named Windows Too. We got a taxi and got there pretty quickly (from what I can recall, I was fairly drunk at this stage) to find the place was about four times bigger than Scoreboard and absolutely full of people.
We took some seats at the bar and proceeded to do some shots of god knows what - I just drank whatever showed up in front of me. A couple of girls sitting nearby invited us to play some dice with them, and we agreed - not remembering that every time we lost a roll of the dice we had to take a drink. As you may imagine, I did not roll well in the state that I was in, which just helped me get drunker faster.
After a while the girls got bored of winning all the time and moved on. It was at this point that Phil decided to get it into his head that he wanted to fight someone and picked out a German guy nearby that was 'looking at him funny'. I had to do some fairly fast talking to change his mind about it (the German guy seemed fairly keen to have a go as well - why do some people get so violent when they drink?) and finally convinced him that it wasn't worth the trouble. At this point he got extremely upset and said that he had 'lost face' in front of all of the other people in the bar (of course he didn't know a single one of them) and left.
This gave me no reason to pause whatsoever, and I proceeded to spend the next couple of hours drinking with a number of random other people that I met just wandering around. Gotta love the nightlife when you're drunk in a foreign country. Finally went home at around 3am and amazingly didn't feel like I was going to die on Sunday. Yes, I'm shocked too.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Fact: an 18 hour session on Saturday leads to a Monday off from work
Last week I found out that a small bar named 'The Shed' was closing in a few weeks. The Shed lives in a fairly arty district of Puxi, and was originally created as an office by two guys named Matt and Steve - who just happen to be the founders of www.justbeer.cn, the company that imports most Australian beer into China.
They started the company a couple of years ago, and they needed an office. So they rented out a reasonably-sized room at the top of an old residential building in a little laneway along Taikan Rd. Since they were selling beer into China, they decided that they needed a couple of fridges full of cold beer for potential customers to try. In order to drink the beer, they decided they needed a bar - and so, The Shed was born. It's a tiny place - can probably seat less than 10 people at the bar itself, and probably another 10 or so could squeeze in around the edges. It's only opened when the owners feel like it (every weekend during the AFL season) and is usually full of friendly Aussie faces. I went there for the first time a few months ago after I met Matt and Steve out at an event they were sponsoring, and have been back a few times since.
Anyway, after finding out it was closing down (the government is redeveloping the whole area so a lot of businesses are getting kicked out), I decided I'd better go along on Saturday and have a few beers. I made my way over at around noon (an AFL game was starting at 12:30) and knocked on the door...only to get no answer. Obviously I was a little early, so I wandered around a few of the laneways nearby to have a look around. Great place for art lovers as there were a lot of display galleries around, and a number of stores selling all sorts of trinkets. I stopped into a cafe and had a delicious chicken pasta and some even more delicious Coronas (it was pretty hot), and after an hour or so made my way back to the bar to find that Matt had opened it up.
I immediately got stuck in the Pure Blondes, and before long a few more people had wandered in. People kept appearing in fits and starts throughout the day, and at one stage it was pretty much capacity - obviously word had spread about the place closing down. I ended up staying there all the way through until the end of the night at 9, when everyone left to either go home (the smart option) or go out somewhere else (the Andrew option). Total cost for 8 hours of drinking - $AUS20. Nice one.
As I mentioned, I foolishly decided I would go out somewhere else after everyone had gone. After a quick trip home to have a meal and get changed, I went out to Hengshan Rd, and an old favourite - Zapatas. Got in and the place was packed - I can't remember if I've been there on a Saturday night or not, but I'd never seen it so busy. I grabbed myself a beer and before too long I was out on the dancefloor moving and shaking. A couple of guys 'encouraged' me to get up on the bar...and before I knew it, that's where I was. My memories of being at University and dancing at the Icon Bar came flooding back at this point. I spent the next few hours dancing on the bar, getting off to get a drink, getting up on the bar again, repeat. At one point I ran into a guy who is a mini-celebrity here in Shanghai - he's an Aussie guy that's on a number of TV shows on one of the two english language channels - ICS. I didn't really talk to him much, but I remember he was an excellent dancer and showed me up by doing the splits a few timers whilst on the bar. I think I attempted it and almost fell off/did some damage to my groin.
Eventually I grew tired of Zapatas and went off in search of more entertainment. At this time I made my way to Tongren Rd, home of the City Diner (mmm...food) and a lot of extremely dodgy bars filled with working girls...and some working guys that look suspiciously like girls. Anyway, I went into Judy's Too, a place that I knew stayed open until the wee hours of the morning. I ran into an English bloke in there and we spent the next few hours drinking, laughing and dancing on the podiums like idiots. Before I knew it, it was 6am and I decided it was time to call it a night...I mean morning. I'd been going for 18 hours, and it was time for sleep.
Unfortunately, my stupid body clock didn't really let me sleep very much. I was up before 10am on Sunday, and a world-class struggler. I had some short naps on the couch during the afternoon, but by the time Monday came around, I was still hungover and not prepared to go to work. Took a much needed day off and was back to normal by Tuesday, thank god. Note to self: 18 hour sessions are not the answer.
They started the company a couple of years ago, and they needed an office. So they rented out a reasonably-sized room at the top of an old residential building in a little laneway along Taikan Rd. Since they were selling beer into China, they decided that they needed a couple of fridges full of cold beer for potential customers to try. In order to drink the beer, they decided they needed a bar - and so, The Shed was born. It's a tiny place - can probably seat less than 10 people at the bar itself, and probably another 10 or so could squeeze in around the edges. It's only opened when the owners feel like it (every weekend during the AFL season) and is usually full of friendly Aussie faces. I went there for the first time a few months ago after I met Matt and Steve out at an event they were sponsoring, and have been back a few times since.
Anyway, after finding out it was closing down (the government is redeveloping the whole area so a lot of businesses are getting kicked out), I decided I'd better go along on Saturday and have a few beers. I made my way over at around noon (an AFL game was starting at 12:30) and knocked on the door...only to get no answer. Obviously I was a little early, so I wandered around a few of the laneways nearby to have a look around. Great place for art lovers as there were a lot of display galleries around, and a number of stores selling all sorts of trinkets. I stopped into a cafe and had a delicious chicken pasta and some even more delicious Coronas (it was pretty hot), and after an hour or so made my way back to the bar to find that Matt had opened it up.
I immediately got stuck in the Pure Blondes, and before long a few more people had wandered in. People kept appearing in fits and starts throughout the day, and at one stage it was pretty much capacity - obviously word had spread about the place closing down. I ended up staying there all the way through until the end of the night at 9, when everyone left to either go home (the smart option) or go out somewhere else (the Andrew option). Total cost for 8 hours of drinking - $AUS20. Nice one.
As I mentioned, I foolishly decided I would go out somewhere else after everyone had gone. After a quick trip home to have a meal and get changed, I went out to Hengshan Rd, and an old favourite - Zapatas. Got in and the place was packed - I can't remember if I've been there on a Saturday night or not, but I'd never seen it so busy. I grabbed myself a beer and before too long I was out on the dancefloor moving and shaking. A couple of guys 'encouraged' me to get up on the bar...and before I knew it, that's where I was. My memories of being at University and dancing at the Icon Bar came flooding back at this point. I spent the next few hours dancing on the bar, getting off to get a drink, getting up on the bar again, repeat. At one point I ran into a guy who is a mini-celebrity here in Shanghai - he's an Aussie guy that's on a number of TV shows on one of the two english language channels - ICS. I didn't really talk to him much, but I remember he was an excellent dancer and showed me up by doing the splits a few timers whilst on the bar. I think I attempted it and almost fell off/did some damage to my groin.
Eventually I grew tired of Zapatas and went off in search of more entertainment. At this time I made my way to Tongren Rd, home of the City Diner (mmm...food) and a lot of extremely dodgy bars filled with working girls...and some working guys that look suspiciously like girls. Anyway, I went into Judy's Too, a place that I knew stayed open until the wee hours of the morning. I ran into an English bloke in there and we spent the next few hours drinking, laughing and dancing on the podiums like idiots. Before I knew it, it was 6am and I decided it was time to call it a night...I mean morning. I'd been going for 18 hours, and it was time for sleep.
Unfortunately, my stupid body clock didn't really let me sleep very much. I was up before 10am on Sunday, and a world-class struggler. I had some short naps on the couch during the afternoon, but by the time Monday came around, I was still hungover and not prepared to go to work. Took a much needed day off and was back to normal by Tuesday, thank god. Note to self: 18 hour sessions are not the answer.
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