Traveling the World

Last night after dinner we returned to the Bad Monkey. Ganja flows freely through this local expat/english-speaking Chinese bar. Nick’s girlfriend Fey found a pretty girl and set her mind on getting this girl in my bed that night. Within the span of 5 minutes I went from sitting at the other end of the room to sitting next to the girl due to Fey’s amazing plot. Due to the typical hot-box situation, by the point actual conversation ensued, we were both pretty much dead. What I do remember are two American guys who kept coming over and talking to her in Chinese (much better than mine). They were obviously jealous and were trying to “cut my grass.” After a few of these times I made the move and she told me we could leave later. Needless to say I grew tired of that garbage and left without the bar floozie.

Matt and I went to a two-level Korean club with pumping music and fast strobe lights. Upon reaching the upstairs we saw NO foreigners and a LOT of drunk Chinese people. Matt and I immediately attached ourselves to a group of 4 people. There were two Chinese men in their late-30s with 2 beautiful early 20s Chinese girls. Immediately they handed us bottles of beer and the night began. We took pictures and laughed and all the silly things Chinese people like to do.

After a bit we were called to dance by another group of Chinese. Our first group wasn’t happy because the second group stole their foreigners. Despite this, the girls stayed around us, with the men sitting nearby. There was a Chinese woman who kept touching me and putting her arm around me and calling me her “mei guo de peng you” (American friend). She even introduced me to every individual in her group as her American friend. We all sat down together after about 20 minutes of dancing.

In America we say “cheers” or “bottoms up,” but in China they say “ganbei.” The difference in our cultures being that if you are in China and someone says ‘ganbei,’ EVERYONE MUST DRINK. We’re not talking about shots of vodka or something like that. These crazy Chinese pour beer into a shot glass, which means many if not all foreigners can easily destroy a Chinese person at drinking…even an inexperienced drinker like myself…and I won.

Later in the evening I had discovered that the beautiful woman who continued to hit on me and the like, was actually 38 years old. It surprised me because she didn’t look a day over 25! While we were all at the table, some guy in the group put his arm around my shoulder and another on my stomach. He then proceeded to talk to me for several minutes without shifting positions. This was a bit uncomfortable so I repeatedly said ganbei to escape his grasp. The woman said ganbei many times as well, all the while telling me in Chinese how she loves me and wants me to go to Lijiang with her the next morning. I agreed with everything she said because she was drunk and you don’t want to piss off a drunk girl. Another thing regarding the “ganbei” concept is the social habit of offering cigarettes to strangers in order to start a conversation. The eldest man in the group seemed very wealthy, as his cigarettes were very expensive. The problem I was referring to is the idea of “face.” Because he was the oldest and let us drink his beer and talk to his women, when he offers you his expensive cigarette you take it and you smoke it. Immediately. As you all know I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life and have very often refused cigarettes in China, but when a man like this offers it, you do it because he will lose all face in front of his friends and the entire room. So I smoked it. Was it good? Yeah it was really smooth. Do I have an immense craving to smoke another one, not at all.