Zack's band night

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For some reason I popped up around 7:30pm and figured I’d try the hostel’s free breakfast for the first time. It was inside the Poacher’s bar where I’d been only a few hours earlier, and you could smell the beer on the walls still. I sat down with an Italian couple and chatted briefly. Then since I was still hungry I went to my daily breakfast café for my regular tofu soup. Then I went back for a nap and woke up a few hours later. After I organized my stuff I cabbed over to the internet café where the shit had flowed a few days earlier. As I walked in I met a friendly French Canadian girl named Sarah. We chatted only briefly and then she left only to return a few minutes later to ask me for my number. We agreed to meet up sometime. Then I set about diligently doing various errands online, most important of which was capping off my UK visa application.

When I finally left I felt like my stomach was ready to explode. So I picked a nearby Chinese restaurant and unloaded on their dirty toilet. Then I sat down and sweated like a pig as I slurped down some tofu cabbage soup. Next on my agenda was the Red House Hostel across the street. It was a fairly bland place without dorm beds, but the guy at the front desk was helpful and provided me with some useful info despite the fact that I wasn’t staying there. Then I hopped in a cab and made my way to Clark Hatch gym where I picked up my first weights in over a month and did some laps in their super-short swimming pool.When I finished, I headed to my jujitsu class. On the way I hung my bathing suit to air dry in order to use it again. And this brought some interesting looks from passing cars. The taxi driver was a really friendly guy who smiled a lot and “communicated” to me as I replied with funny grunts of “Hao!” I got change at the café near the gym and sat down for a coffee and smoke. The perfect way to prepare for 2 hours of hard fighting. I did my practicing with the young Chinese boy who was friendly and had gone to a very high level with kickboxing. We had a treat workout and stayed a good 30 minutes overtime.

Zack invited everyone to watch his band play so when we were done, I hopped in a cab with Vincent and Mel and we made our way to the underground club “Caroline’s” where there was a string of bands playing. Zack was in his underwear and was loud and vulgar as usual, with plenty of girls ogling his muscles. They didn’t play till 1am so we sat down and drank outside. I chatted with a couple of interesting Harvard girls who were working in China. Vincent (a Dartmouth guy that grew up in Vancouver) and I met john at Mix where we tried (mainly unsuccessfully) to dance with a range of Chinese and Russian girls. Vincent was a terrific dancer but came off a bit aggressive by the local girls who seemed a bit confused by his “banana” style. Finally we gave up on the games the girls were playing there and we decided to catch the last 45 minutes at Bar Blu. John disappeared and ended up sleeping with some Chinese girl and Vincent and I hit on some Italian and then French girls. I gave my number to a French girl, Sophie, and then forced myself home.

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Photos

cafe
My favorite breakfast spot