Friday night I had a fairly big night - I went out for dinner with 4 other co-workers after work. We tried to go to my favourite hot pot restaurant (Little Sheep), only to find that they were closed for renovations. Devastated! Luckily, we knew of another option that was only about 1km away, so we made our way there. It was a good thing we had some locals with us because unlike Little Sheep, this restaurant didn't have an English menu, so there is no way I would have been able to order anything.
Anyway, the food was good, but not up to the LS standard. We ended up drinking about 12 longneck bottles of beer between us and consumed an astonishing amount of food...for the grand total of $12 each :) I've said it before and I'll say it again - the value you get for Australian money over here is astonishing sometimes.
After the meal one of the other guys was keen to kick on, so we went over to Puxi to an English bar named the Bulldog to meet up with some of his friends (two Poms and a Yank). I've mentioned the Bulldog in a previous post when I went there and saw Manchester United vs Arsenal. Well, this time there was no soccer on, and it was much quieter as a result. We stayed there for a couple of pints and then moved on to another bar named 'The Shelter', which was a pretty funky underground bar in what seemed to be an actual bomb shelter.
It took a bit of finding - I seem to recall that the door kind of appeared out of nowhere, and was not well marked at all. After paying a $5 cover charge (a rarity in the bars that I've been to over here) we walked down an extremely steep set of stairs, then down a claustrophobic's nightmare hallway, and out into a bunker-type area. The bar stretched out on the left, and a number of people were dancing in-between some massive concrete pillars that seemed to be dotted around the place holding the roof up. It was bizarre, but kind of cool. Probably would have been better if there had been more people. That and the fact that the music was average (hip-hop crap) meant that we only stayed for about half an hour before migrating to Zapatas, another bar that was close by.
We went to Zapatas for the fabled '1am Popcorn Party' - at 1am on certain Friday nights, they unleash a sea of popcorn on the dancefloor. We got there about 10 minutes before 1, and took up our positions on the side of the (packed) dancefloor and waited....and waited...and waited...and it didn't happen! We had thought it was every Friday, but maybe it only happens on the first Friday of the month or something. Anyway, we stayed there for a few hours and moved on to our final place of the evening, but I can't remember what it was called (was pretty pissed by this stage if you hadn't already guessed). Had a few beers there before calling it a night just after 4am.
Remarkably, considering the amount I drank, I woke up feeling pretty good on the Saturday. In fact, I was even well enough to go out and play basketball for a couple of hours in the afternoon. In 32 degree heat. This was perhaps a little optimistic in hindsight, because I got home afterwards and absolutely crashed. I had been intending on going out again on the Saturday night, but ended up falling asleep in front of the TV at about 9pm.
Happily, this meant that I woke up as fresh as a daisy on Sunday. I guess there are some side benefits to having a quiet night in after all.
Showing posts with label Bulldog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bulldog. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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.
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