Missing… Presumed Having A Good Time

Ok, if anyone had to pick the 2 most unlikey starting points to visit first in China, I think I’ve found them. Shijiazhuan is a train hub southwest of Beijing with little to offer except a friend of a friend who is teaching English there. I called Erica Sunday night and first thing Monday morning I was on a train towards a town I could barely pronounce to see a girl I’d never met. Sight unseen, we both just figured how bad can a friend of Ms. Cruzzzzeeee be. Thanks Jenn. I showed up at Erica’s door and she welcomed me in and introduced me to her Posse. (you all have dirty minds!)I met loads of great people and had a great time! They took me to the “sights” of Shijiazhuan. We went to the “McDonald’s Bar” a quaint little spot where they let me hook up my MP3 player to the sound system and set the soundtrack for the night: 80s, some reggae, jazz, blues…all from my favorite 1000 songs that I’m traveling with. It’s like partying in your living room, if your living room had cheap Chinese equilvalents to Colt 45 40oz beers, a bar, and a really smelly toilet. Joy Fun is a bar with a great Filipino band with a… let’s say slightly off center lead singer, who I swear has the hots for Erica. We got there past 1am and the band had already stopped playing, but when we walked in we were greeted with warm smiles and a shot of whiskey. Apparently, the English First teachers are a bit of celebrities at the “sights” around town. (I also know this because the locals often point and stare at them when they walk by). The band asked me what song I wanted to hear and proceeded to get back on stage. The first song was a mellow tune that sounded nothing like the heavy metal that I requested, but they somehow blended Frankie Valley with Metallica in a hard hitting rendition of “Enter Sandman”. I hear there is a video that Peter took of the dance floor, but I haven’t seen it. (Peter, bring it to Shanghai please) Of course, this could not be the end of the night. I had gotten back to the hostel at 2am the night b4 and gotten up at 5:30am to catch the train. I was closing in on being awake for 24 hours with 3 hours sleep, but we decided to go back to the Mc Ds bar and write some poetry and partake with some more spirits. Between Peter, Gert, Erica, Liam, the bartender, and I in our altered states of mind, we somehow managed to write semi-coherent verses using the last word of each other’s lines.  Of course, Erica decided it would be a good idea to get on stage and read the freshly created masterpieces with Duke Ellington playing softly in the background. This I do have on video and will cherish (at least as much as the video I have of a man shooting a snot rocket out of a bus window). The rest of the “night” is a little blurry to say the least as it was capped off by Erica asking what that annoying light coming thru the window was. Alright, who ordered the sun?
The funny thing was I somehow woke up at Gert, Theresa and Tobie’s place. Thanks a bunch guys! I would have never made it at Erica’s. Erica has a cat and that combined with the lovely visiable air and cigarette smoke here in China would have just sent me into respiratory arrest!
We also went to a Brazilian churascaria to celebrate Hugo’s (Brazillian guy) bday. I figured what the heck, it’s his bday, I can splurge on dinner 1 night, but the shocking bill came in at only 38Y (4.75 USD) including free beer! Now I’m sorry, but this place rules! OK, it doesn’t quite compare to Chima or even Por Cao, but it was quite good and did I mention HAD FREE BEER!

Tags: Travel

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