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Published: June 27th 2008
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hot pot!
sooo damn hot! So yesterday morning's adventure out to the other side of the city went well. I took a bus out there, had a nice, albeit hungover, ride - about 35 minutes. Arrived at the apartment early, went down to the office to get a paper saying I'm staying there for a month, and M* dropped me off at the police dept so I could register.
In China, you're supposed to register within 24 hours of entering the country. If you stay in a hotel you're automatically registered, but if you're going to be living in an apartment or staying somewhere other than a hotel, you're supposed to register with the PSB, the police.
There was a bit of an issue when she looked at my customs stamp and realized I entered China a month ago without registering. I'd been prepared for this possible issue, so had the card for my hostel on me, but I'd forgotten how to say "hotel". After I stuttered my way through an explanation, the woman gave me a death look and said "mei guanxi" which meeeeans like don't worry about it, no problem...
but her tone and death look said, "shut up, i don't care, whatever." I was too dehydrated and tired to really care what she thought of me, as long as I got my paper. Which I did.
I came back to the hostel and crashed. I ate something at some point.... and then went to take a nap. But I couldn't sleep, and roommates were coming and going, and a new girl moved in.
So I got up and introduced myself. S*** is Chinese but has lived in NYC for the past 5 years; she was only staying for one night, flew home today. She wanted to go see the 798 Art District, Dashanzi, and I figured, hey, why not? What else am I doing?
After much trouble finding a bus, we finally took a cab. Had a nice afternoon being artistic. The district used to be an industrial center, and then artists started living in the defunct factories... and now the whole place is full of partially renovated hutongs and factories that have been turned into art galleries, little shops, and coffee establishments. It's a chill place to spend an afternoon. There are lots of communist
inspired sculptures and graffitti around the area. It does seem, though, that most artists are traditional oil based painters; I love photography exhibits, but they are few and far between at 798, unfortunately.
S*** really wanted to see the Bird's Nest, but a storm blew in as we were coming back. The Haverford pair invited me out for hot pot, and I in turn invited my friend. We were kind of an awesome motley crew. White girl from upstate NY, white girl from Missourah, black dude from Baltimore, Chinese American from Jersey, Chinese P****, one of the two guys who works reception here, and G**, a woman from Israel . So six cracked foreigners set out into the thunderstorm with a rainbow of umbrellas for hot pot.
Hot pot is a kind of food experience here, like meat and vegetable fondue... and it's a traditional meal in the winter. You start out by picking the kind of broth you want - spicy, mild, savory, etc. We chose half spicy and half mild. In the center of the table is a big pot in which the broth is
continually boiling and then you order all the ingredients that you want to cook. We ordered beef, lamb, shrimp, crab, fish balls , spinach, chinese broccoli, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, and several beers. They bring you the plates of ingredients, and then you put them in and cook them yourselves.
It's really just a cool experience... er, a hot experience, as we were all sweating up a storm by the end of the meal. Which was awesome because we were all wet from walking in the rain and steamy anyway. Then we came back to the hostel and partook in some cool, cleansing, draft beers.
Then the six of us went in search of margaritas. And by that I mean, my Hford counterpart wanted margaritas. After walking through the rain and mud and rubble, we did indeed arrive at the Saddle, but margarita happy hour doesn't happen on Thursdays 😞 My Chinese roommate, S***, just wanted to dance. So we went to Nanjie. Cheap drinks. Cool lady DJ. We drank a bit, and then we went and started the party. Two Chinese, two white girls, and a black dude. And holy hell we had soooo much
bico hostel goodness
peter, who works at the hostel, and sarah and john, haverford '09 fun!
I suppose those of us from the BiCo are used to making our own fun, starting our own parties.... Yeah full swing last night! I had sooo much fun dancing! Eventually we were surrounded by Spaniards who were getting ready to go see the Spain Germany football game. The games are on here at 2:45 AM, so most sports bars fill up around 1am.
This post really isn't doing it justice. I, however, DIDN'T HAVE A GIN AND TONIC AT THE END! I just drank beer all night! Even though the others started ordering mixed drinks at the end! Beer! Yay me!
Tonight is my last night at the hostel... and by "night" I mean I'm going to a funk concert tonight and may or may not end up sleeping here before checking out tomorrow.
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