So we got up on the Saturday and dragged ourselves out of bed at around 8am. Three hours of sleep is definitely not recommended when you've got to make an early flight. We threw our clothes into a couple of bags, flagged down a taxi and got out to the Hongqiao airport in reasonable time. The 2 hour flight went past pretty quickly, and before we knew it, we were in Beijing.
Well, at the airport anyway. The airport in Beijing is a goodly distance out of the city itself, so we had a 30 minute taxi ride or so to marvel at...well, not much. It's one of the few places in China that I've been to where there weren't buildings lining the road for the entire trip. Seriously, I've been to places about 2 hours drive away from Shanghai, and the entire drive just felt like we were going through the suburbs at 100km per hour.
I had been responsible for choosing the hotel when I booked the flights online, so I had the address of our hotel in Chinese, so the taxi driver knew exactly where we were going...but we didn't. We took quite a few turns and went down a number of side-streets before we finally turned into a little alleyway which had a name that I recognised - it was the street that our hotel was on. We were a little taken aback at first, as this street was filled with kids running around, street vendors selling their wares - we weren't sure what I had gotten us into. However, after being dropped off at the hotel (and getting past some initial confusion about our names), we got our 3-bed room, and were quite happy with the facilities. We dropped of our bags, picked up a map from the helpful girls at the front desk, and went off in search of something we would recognise.
It didn't take long. The ShaTan Hotel that we stayed at was only a kilometre or so away from the Forbidden City. We walked around the moat that surrounded it, stopping to take pictures here and there, and had a quick discussion about whether we should go in or not. We decided to move on, as we still had two days left to come back and see that area. We wandered further down the road and found ourselves at Tiananmen Square.
Tiananmen Square is massive. I didn't realise how big the place was until I laid eyes on it - it really is extremely large. It was originally built back in the 1600s, but only came to be it's current size back in the 1950s. We took a few pictures in front of the gate with the big poster of Chairman Mao, and then wandered around the square itself. In the middle of TS is the Monument to People's Heroes, which is a big pillar dedicated to all the people who died fighting in the revolutionary struggles of China during the 19th and 20th centuries. Unfortunately we were unable to get anywhere near it, as the steps leading up to the monument itself were guarded by a couple of soldiers. We walked past the monument and the multitudes of hawkers trying to sell us watches or cameras, and up Chairman Mao's mausoleum. This imposing structure is the final resting place of Chairman Mao, and would have been interesting to visit...but it was already closed for the day. The security arrangements were also quite strict - you needed to leave all cameras, bags, phones, wallets etc at the entrance, and you required official ID (e.g. passport, which we didn't have with us) in order to gain entrance.
After a quick bite to eat (not very many places to get food or drink around the entire TS area) we wandered past a few of the other major buildings (Great Hall of the People, National Museum of China) and decided we'd seen enough of the area. Our next stop was the Bird's Nest stadium and the Olympic area. We looked vainly for a taxi for about half an hour before giving up (terrible layout for tourists - massive 6 lane one-way roads surround the entire area, and there are fences blocking access to the roads, so even if you could manage to flag down a taxi, you'd have no way to actually get into it) and finding the nearest subway station. We had to take three different subway lines to get to the Bird's Nest stadium, but it ended up being extremely cheap (40c AUS to go to any station on any line) and didn't take too long. The stadium itself had it's own station (obviously built for the millions of people visiting during the Olympics), and only five minutes after getting off the train we were at our destination.
The Bird's Nest is an amazing piece of architecture - a stadium that has a unique appearance, it's the largest steel structure in the entire world and cost almost half a billion US dollars. And just like Tiananmen Square, I was amazed at how large it is. We were interested in going inside on a tour, but we all the gates were locked and we couldn't find anyone that could tell us if tours were even on offer or not. At any rate, we had no opportunity to go inside, so we simply took a bunch of pictures and moved on. We wandered down the rest of the Olympic Green (lots of open space as you would expect with so many stadiums and Olympic venues around) and had a look at the Water Cube before sitting down and relaxing for a bit. At this point I called Edward, a guy whose number I had gotten from someone I met in Shanghai. Edward is a Beijing local that hires himself and his nice car out for trips to the Great Wall. We arranged a time for him to pick us up the next day, and ater a few more photos and a quick cup of noodles for Cookie, we decided it was time to get back to the hotel.
After a quick shower and change at the hotel, we were ready to head out and get some dinner and have a few beverages. We didn't really have any plans on a place to eat, so we just went to the Workers Stadium, a large soccer stadium which supposedly also had a bunch of bars nearby. Upon arriving we found a half a dozen bars within a short distance...and an Outback Steakhouse restaurant. For those of you that haven't been overseas and had the pleasure, the Outback Steakhouse is a restaurant that claims to be 'Australian'. In the past, they've had dishes like 'Kookaburra Wings', and 'Roo burgers'...things that we obviously don't eat in Australia. Add that to the fact that they don't actually stock any Australian beer, and the place is a bit of a joke. However, we were hungry, and they do sell some decent burgers there, so we went in and chowed down on some grub. After a few quick beers, we decided we'd try out one or two of the nearby nightclubs to see what they were like.
The first thing that turned me off was the fact that each place had a cover charge - never like having to pay to get into a place. We went down into a place named VICS, got a funky ultra-violet stamp on our wrists, and entered...to the booming sounds of R&B music. For those of you that know me well, you'll know that I hate that particular genre of music, so I was not impressed, to say the least. The atmosphere seemed ok, although the place was pretty empty (it was about 9pm or so) and we ended up only staying for a couple of beers before leaving. We tried out one of the other bars (MIX), which was right next door and had an extremely similar decor and style of music. At this time I suggested we go looking for a club that I'd read about during my extremely brief investigation of places to go in Beijing - Club Banana. This proved to be more difficult than we had expected.
We got into a taxi and I showed him the address (in Chinese) that I had written down. He initially said 'ok', and started driving, but after a while he asked to see the address again and that's when the problems started. He drove us to a major road that he seemed to think was the place, and couldn't find any buildings which matched the number. He then stopped the taxi and rang someone on the phone (I couldn't get through to the club on my mobile to get directions) to try to find the place. When they didn't know where it was, he stopped at a nearby taxi rank and asked another driver for directions. When they didn't know, he gave up. We ended up going right back to where we started, and while it didn't cost us much (only $AUS6 in total), it was a pain in the backside. We were going to give up and walk around to try to find somewhere else, but I suggested trying one more taxi driver...and this guy actually knew where he was going.
We rocked up at the funky-looking Club Banana a bit after 10, and were quite pleased by what we saw. It's a massive multi-floor club, with a smallish dancefloor and bars on different levels. The music was much better than we'd been subjected to earlier (much dancier which suited the three of us just fine), and the place was extremely busy which added to the atmosphere. Shotty tried to take some pictures of the place at one point, but one of the DJs on the stage got out a laser pointer and pointed it right at us, and a staff member approached us pretty quickly to ask that we put our cameras away. It was a bit odd. Anyway, we picked out a good empty spot with convenient access to the bar and a bit of space for some dancing if the mood took us, and proceeded to while away the next few hours listening to some good tunes. We could have ended up staying there until the early hours of the morning, but considering we were going to be climbing the Great Wall the next day, we prudently decided at around 1am it might be best if we went back to the hotel and got a decent night's sleep.
Showing posts with label Cookie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cookie. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
11 days of mayhem - day 6
Friday the 10th of April was a massive day/night. The boys went out and did some shopping around Shanghai, while I worked my behind off in preparation for a long weekend in Beijing. I got home at around 7pm, and after a quick change we went out in search of Kakadu.
Kakadu is a small Aussie bar over in Puxi, near Xin Tian Di. Well, at least we thought it was. We'd been given a card by Sam, a girl we met the day the guys arrived, who was in charge of putting together an 'Aussie Drinks' night each Friday night. The card had directions on how to get to the bar, but we showed it to two taxi drivers and they didn't know how to take us there. Finally we just asked to go to Xin Tian Di as we figured we could just walk the rest of the way from there.
After getting directions from a helpful porter and walking for almost 20 minutes, we made it to the bar. We entered to find a much more business-type crowd than we were expecting - it seemed like a much more mature crowd than us, although there were a few people around our age. It was a sponsored event, which meant that beer was half-price between 6:30 and 9:30pm...although this ended up meaning that beers were still $5 per bottle, which I suppose is a pretty reasonable price for an imported beer. It gave me the chance to have a Coopers Pale Ale and a few Pure Blondes, which I haven't had since I've been here, so it was a nice change. We stayed around for about 2 hours and entered into a raffle...and Shotty actually won something. Not the grand prize of a trip to Tokyo, or the second prize which was 4 slabs of Aussie beer...he won a bottle of win and some meat vouchers, which he promptly gave to me. Not being a wine drinker, and not having an oven to cook the meat in meant that the prize was not really very useful. We gave the wine to Sam and the meat vouchers...well, they're still around here somewhere and have expired by now. Never mind.
I had planned on taking the guys to Windows Scoreboard for some cheap beers and pool-playing, but Sam mentioned that she and some friends were going to another bar named 'The Spot', which is on the famous Tongren Rd bar strip. Turns out Friday nights is free margarhita night for ladies from 10pm onwards, so we figured we'd go along and see what it was like. As you would expect when there are free drinks on offer, it was absolutely packed, so we got a table near the entrance and got ourselves some pizza for dinner. We had planned on having a (reasonably) quiet night, since we had to get up by 8:30 on Saturday for our flight to Beijing. Unfortunately, the best laid plans can often go awry. The Coronas at The Spot were tasting fantastic, so we got stuck into them. Shotty and Cookie did a few shots with some of the other people that we met there, and the night was off and running. We spent a few more hours at The Spot and were then whisked away to Velvet Lounge, another bar that stays open for most of the night.
That place was the busiest bar I've ever been to in my life. The somewhat common practice over here of no bouncers on the door meant that people just kept piling in. It was almost like being at Derby Day during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival - too hard to get anywhere and very difficult to get a drink. Nevertheless, we ended up staying there until just after 4. We had previously considered staying up for the entire night and going straight to the airport in the morning, but a shred of common sense prevailed and we got out of there to grab a couple of hours sleep before our trip.
Kakadu is a small Aussie bar over in Puxi, near Xin Tian Di. Well, at least we thought it was. We'd been given a card by Sam, a girl we met the day the guys arrived, who was in charge of putting together an 'Aussie Drinks' night each Friday night. The card had directions on how to get to the bar, but we showed it to two taxi drivers and they didn't know how to take us there. Finally we just asked to go to Xin Tian Di as we figured we could just walk the rest of the way from there.
After getting directions from a helpful porter and walking for almost 20 minutes, we made it to the bar. We entered to find a much more business-type crowd than we were expecting - it seemed like a much more mature crowd than us, although there were a few people around our age. It was a sponsored event, which meant that beer was half-price between 6:30 and 9:30pm...although this ended up meaning that beers were still $5 per bottle, which I suppose is a pretty reasonable price for an imported beer. It gave me the chance to have a Coopers Pale Ale and a few Pure Blondes, which I haven't had since I've been here, so it was a nice change. We stayed around for about 2 hours and entered into a raffle...and Shotty actually won something. Not the grand prize of a trip to Tokyo, or the second prize which was 4 slabs of Aussie beer...he won a bottle of win and some meat vouchers, which he promptly gave to me. Not being a wine drinker, and not having an oven to cook the meat in meant that the prize was not really very useful. We gave the wine to Sam and the meat vouchers...well, they're still around here somewhere and have expired by now. Never mind.
I had planned on taking the guys to Windows Scoreboard for some cheap beers and pool-playing, but Sam mentioned that she and some friends were going to another bar named 'The Spot', which is on the famous Tongren Rd bar strip. Turns out Friday nights is free margarhita night for ladies from 10pm onwards, so we figured we'd go along and see what it was like. As you would expect when there are free drinks on offer, it was absolutely packed, so we got a table near the entrance and got ourselves some pizza for dinner. We had planned on having a (reasonably) quiet night, since we had to get up by 8:30 on Saturday for our flight to Beijing. Unfortunately, the best laid plans can often go awry. The Coronas at The Spot were tasting fantastic, so we got stuck into them. Shotty and Cookie did a few shots with some of the other people that we met there, and the night was off and running. We spent a few more hours at The Spot and were then whisked away to Velvet Lounge, another bar that stays open for most of the night.
That place was the busiest bar I've ever been to in my life. The somewhat common practice over here of no bouncers on the door meant that people just kept piling in. It was almost like being at Derby Day during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival - too hard to get anywhere and very difficult to get a drink. Nevertheless, we ended up staying there until just after 4. We had previously considered staying up for the entire night and going straight to the airport in the morning, but a shred of common sense prevailed and we got out of there to grab a couple of hours sleep before our trip.
Monday, May 4, 2009
11 days of mayhem - day 5
Been very slack in getting these online! Onto the next few days before the trip to Beijing.
The guys spent Thursday the 9th on a day trip to Hangzhou. The 90 minute train ride meant that they didn't get back until after 8:30, and they were both buggered from a busy day of walking. We wandered 10 minutes down the road to a noodle place that sells big plates of noodles for around $AUS2-3 each, and ate until we were stuffed. Once we got back to the apartment Cookie decided to call it a night so that he could recover, but Shotty was pretty keen to go out and do something so I took him to De La Coast.
De La Coast is a funky little bar just at the end of The Bund. I'd never actually been there before, but had read good things about it on some expat websites so figured we may as well give it a try. One thing in its favour - a full moon party was on that night, and they were having a $CNY100 open-bar night. That equates to about $AUS20 for as much alcohol you can drink between 9pm and 2am. Including wine/spirits, not just beer.
We got there just before 10pm...to find the place completely dead. There were roughly 5 other people in the entire place when we walked in. Unperturbed, we decided to stick it out and get our money's worth. The DJ was spinning some pretty decent tunes, so we grabbed a table near the (tiny) dancefloor and started downing the beverages.
An aside here - one of the things that everyone gets caught out with at bars in China are the reserved tables. You walk in to a place and see some big empty tables and go over to sit down...only to have a staff member come over and tell you that the table is reserved for people willing to spent a certain amount of money. Usually there's a price for the table, and then a 'minimum spend' on drinks etc. On an open bar night like the one we were at, you simply pay a set price for the table...and I guess it works out to be pretty reasonable if there's a big group.
Anyway, Shotty and I had just about the whole place to choose from, so we got some prime real-estate. While things initially looked pretty bad, within the next hour a steady stream of people came in, and before midnight the place was packed. Around this time we bumped into the manager of the place, a Californian guy named Rudy. Rudy invited us over to his VIP area and started organising drinks for us. Not such a big deal since it was an open bar, but it was nice having drinks brought over for us instead of having to go get them. We started things off with something that I almost guarantee I will never try again - a double-shot of tequila. A 60ml shot glass full of the evil liquid. They didn't have lemon and salt, and instead gave us lime to suck on after downing the shot. As Shotty put it, it's the only shot he's ever done where he had to gulp twice - you do the shot, and it's still not finished!
We stayed in the VIP area with Rudy until the place closed. The DJ really was playing some good tunes, so we had a little mini dance-off between the three of us at one point (in our own little area, not out on the main floor). A Japanese guy that Rudy knew arrived soon after this, so Shotty and I took it in turns to dazzle him with our extremely limited knowledge of the Japanese language. And when I say limited, we were able to introduce ourselves and say how nice it was to meet him...and that's about it. Awesome.
Finally the place shut just after 2, so we wandered out the front and got into a taxi. Did remarkably well in resisting the urge to kick on at another venue, but considering I was having Monday off I knew I had to show up to work on Friday, so we decided to go home. A good thing too, as I was pretty shabby the next morning. We ended up drinking a lot more alcohol than we thought we would in the space of 4 hours :)
The guys spent Thursday the 9th on a day trip to Hangzhou. The 90 minute train ride meant that they didn't get back until after 8:30, and they were both buggered from a busy day of walking. We wandered 10 minutes down the road to a noodle place that sells big plates of noodles for around $AUS2-3 each, and ate until we were stuffed. Once we got back to the apartment Cookie decided to call it a night so that he could recover, but Shotty was pretty keen to go out and do something so I took him to De La Coast.
De La Coast is a funky little bar just at the end of The Bund. I'd never actually been there before, but had read good things about it on some expat websites so figured we may as well give it a try. One thing in its favour - a full moon party was on that night, and they were having a $CNY100 open-bar night. That equates to about $AUS20 for as much alcohol you can drink between 9pm and 2am. Including wine/spirits, not just beer.
We got there just before 10pm...to find the place completely dead. There were roughly 5 other people in the entire place when we walked in. Unperturbed, we decided to stick it out and get our money's worth. The DJ was spinning some pretty decent tunes, so we grabbed a table near the (tiny) dancefloor and started downing the beverages.
An aside here - one of the things that everyone gets caught out with at bars in China are the reserved tables. You walk in to a place and see some big empty tables and go over to sit down...only to have a staff member come over and tell you that the table is reserved for people willing to spent a certain amount of money. Usually there's a price for the table, and then a 'minimum spend' on drinks etc. On an open bar night like the one we were at, you simply pay a set price for the table...and I guess it works out to be pretty reasonable if there's a big group.
Anyway, Shotty and I had just about the whole place to choose from, so we got some prime real-estate. While things initially looked pretty bad, within the next hour a steady stream of people came in, and before midnight the place was packed. Around this time we bumped into the manager of the place, a Californian guy named Rudy. Rudy invited us over to his VIP area and started organising drinks for us. Not such a big deal since it was an open bar, but it was nice having drinks brought over for us instead of having to go get them. We started things off with something that I almost guarantee I will never try again - a double-shot of tequila. A 60ml shot glass full of the evil liquid. They didn't have lemon and salt, and instead gave us lime to suck on after downing the shot. As Shotty put it, it's the only shot he's ever done where he had to gulp twice - you do the shot, and it's still not finished!
We stayed in the VIP area with Rudy until the place closed. The DJ really was playing some good tunes, so we had a little mini dance-off between the three of us at one point (in our own little area, not out on the main floor). A Japanese guy that Rudy knew arrived soon after this, so Shotty and I took it in turns to dazzle him with our extremely limited knowledge of the Japanese language. And when I say limited, we were able to introduce ourselves and say how nice it was to meet him...and that's about it. Awesome.
Finally the place shut just after 2, so we wandered out the front and got into a taxi. Did remarkably well in resisting the urge to kick on at another venue, but considering I was having Monday off I knew I had to show up to work on Friday, so we decided to go home. A good thing too, as I was pretty shabby the next morning. We ended up drinking a lot more alcohol than we thought we would in the space of 4 hours :)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
11 days of mayhem - day 4
The guys spent the first Wednesday of their trip shopping and looking around the Pudong area of Shanghai. I had to work again, so caught up with them at around 6pm after finishing a little early. I wanted to show them a big technology shopping centre (5 floors of electronic gadgets to peruse through) so we got on the subway and made our way to downtown Pudong.
Only to find that the centre closed at 7pm. Damn it! After a bit of aimless wandering around trying to work out what to have for dinner, I made the executive decision to take the guys to Xin Tian Di. I think I've mentioned this place in a previous blog post - if not, here's the description from Wikipedia:
Xin Tian Di is a car-free shopping, eating and entertainment area of Shanghai. It is composed of an area of restored traditional shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys, a modern shopping mall with a cinema complex, and some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seatings. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends, though romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. Xintiandi means "New Heaven and Earth", and is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China.
It's a pretty nice place, very popular with tourists and locals alike, and a good place to have a meal outside when the weather is nice, so we hopped into a taxi and got there in less than 20 minutes. We wandered up and down the strip trying to find a place that we were interested in. A couple of steak places caught our eye but the guys had decided they could get better, cheaper steak back in Aus. There were a few other Chinese restaurants but they were all packed, so we ended going to a German place where we could sit outside and watch the people go by. We also got to try some of the German beers which were delicous, though horrendously expensive (Xin Tian Di is one of the most expensive areas in Shanghai to get a meal). We finished up our meals and decided to go back to Pudong, but had got a taste for beer so we decided to find a place to keep drinking. Not many places to choose from in the Pudong area, so we went to the place that was closest to my apartment (and just happened to keep the German theme going) - the Pudong Hofbrauhaus.
The original Hofbrauhaus is a famous beer hall in Munich (which I went to way back in 2004). The one in Pudong is a multi-storey building, with a modern bar/dining area on the ground floor, a small-scale reproduction of an authentic German beer hall on the second floor, and an outdoor dining area on the third floor. The 2nd and 3rd floors were shut when we got there, so we just settled down at a table near the small three-member band (vainly trying to drum up interest from the crowd) and ordered up some locally-brewed beverages. Shotty decided to go with the 1-litre glass, while Cookie and I wisely chose the 500ml versions.
They were pretty tasty beers, and the waitress kept bringing over a dish of free peanuts, so we were content. We ended up staying there until the place was about to close (just near midnight) and got a taxi as we were too lazy to walk the whole 2km to get home. Was very happy I'd stayed away from the 1-litre beers when I woke up without a hangover the next day.
Only to find that the centre closed at 7pm. Damn it! After a bit of aimless wandering around trying to work out what to have for dinner, I made the executive decision to take the guys to Xin Tian Di. I think I've mentioned this place in a previous blog post - if not, here's the description from Wikipedia:
Xin Tian Di is a car-free shopping, eating and entertainment area of Shanghai. It is composed of an area of restored traditional shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys, a modern shopping mall with a cinema complex, and some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seatings. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends, though romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. Xintiandi means "New Heaven and Earth", and is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China.
It's a pretty nice place, very popular with tourists and locals alike, and a good place to have a meal outside when the weather is nice, so we hopped into a taxi and got there in less than 20 minutes. We wandered up and down the strip trying to find a place that we were interested in. A couple of steak places caught our eye but the guys had decided they could get better, cheaper steak back in Aus. There were a few other Chinese restaurants but they were all packed, so we ended going to a German place where we could sit outside and watch the people go by. We also got to try some of the German beers which were delicous, though horrendously expensive (Xin Tian Di is one of the most expensive areas in Shanghai to get a meal). We finished up our meals and decided to go back to Pudong, but had got a taste for beer so we decided to find a place to keep drinking. Not many places to choose from in the Pudong area, so we went to the place that was closest to my apartment (and just happened to keep the German theme going) - the Pudong Hofbrauhaus.
The original Hofbrauhaus is a famous beer hall in Munich (which I went to way back in 2004). The one in Pudong is a multi-storey building, with a modern bar/dining area on the ground floor, a small-scale reproduction of an authentic German beer hall on the second floor, and an outdoor dining area on the third floor. The 2nd and 3rd floors were shut when we got there, so we just settled down at a table near the small three-member band (vainly trying to drum up interest from the crowd) and ordered up some locally-brewed beverages. Shotty decided to go with the 1-litre glass, while Cookie and I wisely chose the 500ml versions.
They were pretty tasty beers, and the waitress kept bringing over a dish of free peanuts, so we were content. We ended up staying there until the place was about to close (just near midnight) and got a taxi as we were too lazy to walk the whole 2km to get home. Was very happy I'd stayed away from the 1-litre beers when I woke up without a hangover the next day.
Monday, April 20, 2009
11 days of mayhem - day 1
Ok, so it was an absolutely massive 11 days with the boys. I've got stories to tell and pictures to upload...so I'd best get started.
The guys arrived on Sunday morning the 5th of April at 11:30am. I took the Shanghai Maglev (that's the train that does 430km per hour out to the Pudong International Airport, one of the fastest trains in the world) out to get them and got there in plenty of time (it does 38km in 7 minutes). The guys arrived pretty much on schedule...sans baggage. Turns out they had to rush to get their connecting flight in Hong Kong, and while they got on the flight, their bags did not. Luckily we only had to wait an hour or so for the bags to come on the next flight, so we adjourned to the airport food lounge to grab some lunch and catch up on things. Their first meal in Shanghai? KFC.
After picking up their bags (and having a deja-vu experience when they came out of the arrivals area for a second time), we grabbed the Maglev back to downtown Pudong. While waiting in line to get a taxi back to my apartment, the guys were amused to be given some pamphlets advertising "Lots of lovely young girls of an average age of 18-20 are available here to relieve your fatigue and loneliness in the alien country". The reason I know exactly what it says is because they left it here for me when they left. Thanks guys.
Anyway, we got back to the apartment and got the guys unpacked and settled in. We made a quick trip to the local supermarket to buy some essentials (beer) and show them the madness that is a Shanghai supermarket on a Sunday afternoon. Then we hopped into another taxi to head down to Hengshan Rd over on the Puxi side of town.
We started off at a bar named Cotton's - a place I'd been past before but had never actually been into. It's a pretty nice place, much better in the warmer weather as there's a reasonably sized outdoor area that's good to sit down with a beer. After having a well deserved beverage, we met a couple of other Aussies there who invited us along to an Aussie drinks night on the following Friday (more about that later). We stayed for a couple of beers and then made our way to the next place - The Beaver.
It was only about 5:30 at this stage, and obviously a bit early in the day, because there was only one other guy at The Beaver and he was smashing some fish & chips. I guess Sunday isn't the biggest day to go out around that area (definitely nothing like the Sunday sessions back in Melbourne). Anyway, we had a couple of beers there (they had VB but we decided to steer clear of those) and played with the cat that was wandering up and down the bar, and then moved on. To an Irish pub just around the corner. I wanted them to experience as many places as possible, you understand.
Had a few more beers at the Irish pub and then decided it was time to get some food. Went just up the road to an Arabian place that I'd been to before (still no Chinese food for the guys) and had an excellent meal of rice and kebab-shaped meats. Plus a lot more beer. We waited in vain for the belly dancer to come on, but were told that she wasn't on that night for some reason. Disappointed, we left and went just over the road to SBS 191.
I've mentioned this place before in previous posts - it seems quite popular with the locals and I haven't really seen very many other Westerners in there the couple of times I've gone. Anyway, we settled in near the dance floor and started ordering jugs of beer. The boys were pretty thirsty from what I can remember, because those jugs disappeared rapidly. At this point, although the band was doing their thing (cheesy covers of Western songs), the dance floor was completely empty. With almost no egging-on from the guys, I got up on the dance floor...and started dancing by myself. Remarkably, this seemed to be the catalyst the crowd needed. Within a few minutes, I had been joined by a dozen others, and from that time on the floor remained pretty-much full. Just doing my part :)
About this time Cookie decided that he wanted to start drinking vodka and lime instead of beer. It was here that he ran into some problems - it took him a long time to get across to the bar staff what it was that he wanted. I think he had to send a couple of drinks back before they finally got the right thing. However, when he then asked for exactly the same drink, he got something completely different. It was frustrating, but we managed.
By this stage I was well and truly hammered, and had noticed that there were a couple of guys dancing over by a table just near the dancefloor. I decided that they were far better dancers than anyone actually on the floor, and eager to put on a show for my guests, I went over to them and challenged them to a dance-off.
Yes, you read that correctly. I think I may have been pulling out some Starsky & Hutch quotes at this time, I don't really remember. I do remember going over to the dancefloor just in front of them, cutting some sick moves, pointing to them and pointing to the floor in front of me. And some raucous laughter. Not sure where that came from. Anyway, whatever I ended up saying, it worked, because within a few seconds the guys were out on the floor and we were all pulling out our best stuff to one-up each other. Shotty swears to me that I started doing 'The Robot' at one point - I have no real excuse for this *hangs head in shame*. We had a lot of fun and even got the lead singer of the band out to dance with us for a little while.
We stayed at SBS until about 2am when it closed, and then hopped in a taxi to go to Judy's Too on Tongren Rd. I'm sure I've mentioned this place before - full of local girls (that are not exactly what they seem) hunting for prey, and some very drunken individuals such as ourselves that are there to dance and keep drinking as much as possible. This is the stage where things get really hazy. Somehow, the three of us managed to get separated. I seem to recall giving Cookie the key to the apartment so that he could go home...but didn't give him the address. I had shown him the Sheraton Hotel landmark earlier in the day, and he knew I lived in Pudong, and somehow managed to get the taxi driver to take him to the right place so that he could walk back to my apartment. Super impressive effort on his first day in the country. Shotty got home separately soon after Cookie...he actually had a piece of paper with my address, but it had been ripped in half, so it was a miracle that he got home too. I got back a bit later (after smashing some vanilla french toast at the all-night diner - don't ask) and was relived to find the boys had made it safely home.
So there you go - first night out in a foreign country where they couldn't speak the language at all, and we get separated. Extremely average hosting duties by yours truly! After that debacle, I gave both the boys a piece of paper with my address in both English and Chinese so that they'd always be able to find their way home.
And at the end of that massive post, it's the end of day 1 of their trip. I'm hoping the rest of the trip won't warrant such large posts! More tomorrow.
The guys arrived on Sunday morning the 5th of April at 11:30am. I took the Shanghai Maglev (that's the train that does 430km per hour out to the Pudong International Airport, one of the fastest trains in the world) out to get them and got there in plenty of time (it does 38km in 7 minutes). The guys arrived pretty much on schedule...sans baggage. Turns out they had to rush to get their connecting flight in Hong Kong, and while they got on the flight, their bags did not. Luckily we only had to wait an hour or so for the bags to come on the next flight, so we adjourned to the airport food lounge to grab some lunch and catch up on things. Their first meal in Shanghai? KFC.
After picking up their bags (and having a deja-vu experience when they came out of the arrivals area for a second time), we grabbed the Maglev back to downtown Pudong. While waiting in line to get a taxi back to my apartment, the guys were amused to be given some pamphlets advertising "Lots of lovely young girls of an average age of 18-20 are available here to relieve your fatigue and loneliness in the alien country". The reason I know exactly what it says is because they left it here for me when they left. Thanks guys.
Anyway, we got back to the apartment and got the guys unpacked and settled in. We made a quick trip to the local supermarket to buy some essentials (beer) and show them the madness that is a Shanghai supermarket on a Sunday afternoon. Then we hopped into another taxi to head down to Hengshan Rd over on the Puxi side of town.
We started off at a bar named Cotton's - a place I'd been past before but had never actually been into. It's a pretty nice place, much better in the warmer weather as there's a reasonably sized outdoor area that's good to sit down with a beer. After having a well deserved beverage, we met a couple of other Aussies there who invited us along to an Aussie drinks night on the following Friday (more about that later). We stayed for a couple of beers and then made our way to the next place - The Beaver.
It was only about 5:30 at this stage, and obviously a bit early in the day, because there was only one other guy at The Beaver and he was smashing some fish & chips. I guess Sunday isn't the biggest day to go out around that area (definitely nothing like the Sunday sessions back in Melbourne). Anyway, we had a couple of beers there (they had VB but we decided to steer clear of those) and played with the cat that was wandering up and down the bar, and then moved on. To an Irish pub just around the corner. I wanted them to experience as many places as possible, you understand.
Had a few more beers at the Irish pub and then decided it was time to get some food. Went just up the road to an Arabian place that I'd been to before (still no Chinese food for the guys) and had an excellent meal of rice and kebab-shaped meats. Plus a lot more beer. We waited in vain for the belly dancer to come on, but were told that she wasn't on that night for some reason. Disappointed, we left and went just over the road to SBS 191.
I've mentioned this place before in previous posts - it seems quite popular with the locals and I haven't really seen very many other Westerners in there the couple of times I've gone. Anyway, we settled in near the dance floor and started ordering jugs of beer. The boys were pretty thirsty from what I can remember, because those jugs disappeared rapidly. At this point, although the band was doing their thing (cheesy covers of Western songs), the dance floor was completely empty. With almost no egging-on from the guys, I got up on the dance floor...and started dancing by myself. Remarkably, this seemed to be the catalyst the crowd needed. Within a few minutes, I had been joined by a dozen others, and from that time on the floor remained pretty-much full. Just doing my part :)
About this time Cookie decided that he wanted to start drinking vodka and lime instead of beer. It was here that he ran into some problems - it took him a long time to get across to the bar staff what it was that he wanted. I think he had to send a couple of drinks back before they finally got the right thing. However, when he then asked for exactly the same drink, he got something completely different. It was frustrating, but we managed.
By this stage I was well and truly hammered, and had noticed that there were a couple of guys dancing over by a table just near the dancefloor. I decided that they were far better dancers than anyone actually on the floor, and eager to put on a show for my guests, I went over to them and challenged them to a dance-off.
Yes, you read that correctly. I think I may have been pulling out some Starsky & Hutch quotes at this time, I don't really remember. I do remember going over to the dancefloor just in front of them, cutting some sick moves, pointing to them and pointing to the floor in front of me. And some raucous laughter. Not sure where that came from. Anyway, whatever I ended up saying, it worked, because within a few seconds the guys were out on the floor and we were all pulling out our best stuff to one-up each other. Shotty swears to me that I started doing 'The Robot' at one point - I have no real excuse for this *hangs head in shame*. We had a lot of fun and even got the lead singer of the band out to dance with us for a little while.
We stayed at SBS until about 2am when it closed, and then hopped in a taxi to go to Judy's Too on Tongren Rd. I'm sure I've mentioned this place before - full of local girls (that are not exactly what they seem) hunting for prey, and some very drunken individuals such as ourselves that are there to dance and keep drinking as much as possible. This is the stage where things get really hazy. Somehow, the three of us managed to get separated. I seem to recall giving Cookie the key to the apartment so that he could go home...but didn't give him the address. I had shown him the Sheraton Hotel landmark earlier in the day, and he knew I lived in Pudong, and somehow managed to get the taxi driver to take him to the right place so that he could walk back to my apartment. Super impressive effort on his first day in the country. Shotty got home separately soon after Cookie...he actually had a piece of paper with my address, but it had been ripped in half, so it was a miracle that he got home too. I got back a bit later (after smashing some vanilla french toast at the all-night diner - don't ask) and was relived to find the boys had made it safely home.
So there you go - first night out in a foreign country where they couldn't speak the language at all, and we get separated. Extremely average hosting duties by yours truly! After that debacle, I gave both the boys a piece of paper with my address in both English and Chinese so that they'd always be able to find their way home.
And at the end of that massive post, it's the end of day 1 of their trip. I'm hoping the rest of the trip won't warrant such large posts! More tomorrow.
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