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Published: September 30th 2009
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Since I’ve been here I have not been quite the social butterfly I was at home. Life mostly consists of getting settled in the apartment, going to class, going to find food for lunch and dinner and studying for the remaining hours of the days. However, I have enjoyed the occasional night out. In fact, that night has been every Friday night. In DC, it was opposite, Friday’s were always my “day off” from going out, since within my lifestyle and groups of friends, there was something to do on practically every night of the year, almost always involving my friend, Mr. Beer. But here, along with my weight, my level of alcohol consumption has dropped--two not entirely unrelated things. I’m not sure how long this “only going out on the weekends” will last, but while it does, I’ll tell you about it.
Going out in Kunming (in my experience thus far, which I’m sure will change over time) essentially consists of five parts.
Part I: Pre-game. (9:00 to 11:45 pm-ish). This part varies from weekend to weekend, but the most fun is typically had after enjoying some -hopefully cold- beer at a bar where the noise level is
such that holding a conversation is manageable and all involved are relaxed. This part could also be called dinner, but more often food intake consists of a plate of fried potatoes (resembling French fries) or grabbing a bowl of noodles on the way to meet up with folks.
Part II: Party. (Optional. 9:00 to 1:00 am-ish) On occasion, there is a flat party to attend prior to the next part of the evening. If this occurs, bring some beer and bijiu and enjoy.
Part III: Kundu/Uprock. (Midnight-ish to 3 am-ish) After the chill bars close, you get restless or the party is broken up by the police, most people (read: foreigners) head to a club called Uprock. This bar serves warm 10 yuan beer (they usually have a case or so of cold beer, then restock with room temp beer and offer you a glass of ice to accompany your already watered down small size Tsingtao) or some more expensive beers and cocktails. There is typically a DJ playing anything from Techno to Hip Hop to whatever it was we were dancing to… I haven’t been thrilled with the dance music at this bar, but that hasn’t stopped
Bing Pijiu - Literally
Warm beer and a glass of ice = no problem. me from going. There is also an outside area with a foosball table, scattered tables and a BBQ (read: heating up meat sticks on a narrow metal coal spit). Then there is a third level, which is the roof, just more space to sit, smoke, talk and drink. After a couple hours of dancing, when all the beer served is warm and the toilet room is so disgusting you can’t stand to enter it anymore, it is usually time to move on to the final, and my favorite, part of the evening (morning).
Part IV: Street Food! (Anytime to Anytime, but usually around 4:30 am) After dancing ridiculously for hours and drinking mostly gross beer, we stumble our way over to an area called Kundu. It is a street consisting of Chinese night clubs and street food vendors. Occasionally, folks go to one of the Chinese bars for awhile, but the street food is inevitable. There are Chinese people everywhere at 4:30 am, eating, talking, throwing up on the streets, fighting, laughing, throwing up some more….The street is lined with tables covered with meats, vegetables, dead insects, various seafood, filleted fish, tofu and unknown animal parts all skewered on
SoHo
A Chinese Night Club sticks and laid out for your choosing. Once you pick, you take a seat to wait while your food is bar-b-q-ued. You can also get rice, noodles, dumplings and BEER! (I usually pick a whole potato and a meat stick. They slice the potato, grill it and sprinkle it with spices.) Eventually, we get tired and move on to the last part of the evening.
Part V: Go home and waste away the rest of your weekend. (4:00 am-ish to 2:00 pm-the next day-ish) Grab a taxi, find a place to sleep -if you aren’t able to get into the place you actually live because all gates are closed at midnight- and sleep until it doesn’t hurt anymore.
So, that is the general outline of all my “going out” nights. The pictures can tell the rest, but there were a few notable experiences: eating -on two separate nights- some type of insect that looks like maggots, but tastes like dried fried potato chips; staying at a friend’s place and ending up at a futbol match the next day; playing “paper, rock,
scissors” and never being able to win (unless taking a shot after each round is winning); witnessing the tail end of a dude being beat up by a group of other dudes, then getting up and walking away like nothing happened after the attackers ran off; being blinded by stray flying spices used on meat sticks, being hit on by a mid-life transvestite and sliding under the locked gate at my apartment complex to avoid waking up our annoyed guard two nights in a row.
Yes, it seems that all Chinese people are expected to be at home and locked away by mid-night each night, for that is when all the gates are closed and locked with locks that require a key to open them (for me it is more scary to think about being trapped inside, then on the outside). We can get around this by letting the guard know you will be coming home late, then calling to wake them up to let you in when you arrive home. However, they
are obviously annoyed by this and, in fact, typically request additional payment in order to let you in. The fee can be anywhere from 1 yuan to 10 yuan to a pack of cigarettes to your first born child….it is up to them…they have the key.
Well, last weekend, I realized that due to my recent reduced size and if I am willing to get a little dirty (is there any question?) I am able to fit underneath our gate and avoid the most unpleasant interaction of dealing with the guard to return home after midnight to my own bed in an apartment that I am paying for….but I digress.
So, who’s ready to party?
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Chum
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AdMo
I call dibs on buying your first beer and jumbo slice when you're back! : )