When the Sun Goes Down

Looking back at the last post, it feels like weeks ago. I can't believe I've only been here for 5 days. I've gotten into such a routine of waking up, getting breakfast, checking out the town, and then going out at night. So far, it's been pretty great.

Let's focus a little bit on Beijing nightlife. The last two nights I had two completely opposite experiences, one I loved and one I hated. Let me back track and give you the whole story...

A few days ago Drew and I were eating lunch in a small "authentic" restaurant when we came across a guy named Adam from New York. He's in his mid 20's, has been studying Chinese for several years and is virtually fluent, and is studying ancient Chinese at Beida.

We friended Adam, told him we'll all go out sometime soon - that night was Thursday. We hit up the Houhai bar district and were walking down a small hutong (alley). We were in search of that bangin club/bar that was filled with people, but ended up going into this restaurant with only about 10 people inside.

The waitress told Adam, all in Chinese of course, that the restaurant was just about to close. Adam said a few words, the owner who just happened to be sitting around, invited all of us in for free food and drinks. We ended up hanging out there for the rest of the night!

The food and drinks were plentiful and the conversation was good (Adam acted as translator). The owner seemed to be some sort of local police, he was trying to convince us that he was Chinese FBI, but he was just trying to get a rise out of us. It was really funny, Adam would turn to us and explain what this man was saying and then add in a "This guy is such a F*ckhead" at the end and then would just start laughing and the Chinese man would laugh with all of us because he thought he was a cool, funny host.

Normally I don't think it's very cool to make fun of people to their face in a language that they don't understand, but this man deserved it. He was saying some pretty bad things about the US and wasn't willing to accept our views. Anyways, the night continued on and to cap it all off, the owner called some random server and had him play some local folk music from Western China.

It was CRAZY! It's not the first time that I've felt such emotion from music but it was amazing. It reminded me of when my friends and I would get back after a late night, set the lights low, and listen to nice, chill music. You don't realize what's going on around you, the music engulfs everything. This is where I was on Thursday night. After the man was done playing his beautiful music, I snapped out of my hypnotic state and felt like I had just slept for 12 hours.

Needless to say, Thursday was the night that I loved. It is probably a night that I will never get again as long as I'm in Beijing. Friday night, last night, was a little bit of a different tale though. We went to a local club called Propaganda. It's right here in Wudaokou, so it was basically tourist city. While it was cool to make a few good friends from Amsterdam and Switzerland, the club just wasn't my scene.

It was too crowded, too expensive, and had to many people that thought they were the shit. Surprisingly it seemed to be the wealthy youth of China that seemed to have their noses in the air the highest. I bumped into a man, walking past one of the private tables, and he said something I immediately understood. This exchange had no words, but I understood that he was saying, "What the hell did you just bump into ME for. Get outta here before I throw you out of this club."

Looks like some things are the same no matter where you live in this world. You'll still have clubs that are way too packed, people bumping and grinding all night, and way to many people that have a fake sense of authority. Wasn't a great night and I ended up leaving pretty early, but I'm glad I had the experience. It'll be interesting to see how it will be next time I go back there, because I'm sure I will at least one more time this semester, since my roommates seemed to have a decent time.

There's my first piece on nightlife. Can't wait to explore more of the different bar districts around. There are definitely some really nice places where I could see myself loving, the problem is finding those places.


On a side note, I think this blog business is going pretty well. I see myself analyzing things much more in my head though and don't really have the will to type it all out. Maybe I'll look into Vlogging (video blogging). That may be a suitable alternative in which I can dive a little deeper into the emotions and questions I have for this city.

Housh.