First Night on the Town

This entry almost got skipped due to my reluctance to go to our local internet cafe. You see, just about every male here smokes like a chimney, and you can smoke almost anywhere. I've been a few places where I was bowled over that the air was fresh and that they were actually enforcing the no smoking policy. Anyway, I hate going down there because you come back smelling like the Marlboro Man, and it burns my eyes.

However, we just got our DSL working! Back in the saddle at last. It's definitely slower than your garden variety DSL in the US but anything seems better than hanging out down in the cafe (perhaps "internet saloon" is more apt) downstairs. As a side note, another interesting fact about these local internet cafes is the preponderance of 20 year old boys (and I do mean boys) playing Counterstrike and Warcraft III from the wee hours of the morning to wee hours of the morning. It seems in China that male students are either: studying, chanting militaristic-sounding shouts in the courtyard, or making the world safe for democracy through the world of online gaming. I left out "frustrating their western English teachers" but that's a topic for another team.

Last Friday, an Irish fellow and I headed out to meet a few other teachers on the town in downtown Dalian. This fellow has a blog you can check out. He helped make C and I feel comfortable that DMU was a legitimate place that paid on time and wouldn't have us living in an anthill. So anyway, we took the number 23 bus after some dinner. In the evenings here in Dalian, as in New York City, the traffic dies down dramatically (perhaps "dies down" is insensitive given China's poor traffic safety record). So the bus was almost like taking a taxi. It flew along Dalian's wide boulevards and through Zhongshan Square (the heart of town). We got off downtown and meandered down the Renmin Lu ("The People's Street") towards the Shangri-La hotel. For those of with you means, the Shangri-La hotel chain appears to have an excellent 3-4 star hotel in almost every major Chinese city, should you wish to stay in style as you visit China. My Irish friend indicated that the pub we were headed to was on the street behind the Shangri-La.

As we walked down an alley (a BIG alley, not a shifty one), we saw China's winds of change. Old beat up Chinese cars parked next to the mainstay Volkswagens and Toyotas of the upper Chinese middle class, and finally the S-Class Mercedes - truly the transportation of choice for the elite. Once we turned right on the back street behind the hotel, we entered a new world. Apparently in China, expat bars are in the same class as massage parlors and sex shops. China has a funny faux society where the people are loath to express the most basic physical affection in public, but the risqué establishments are as seedy as they come. Of course, unlike an American city, you don't feel unsafe in the Chinese red light district. It's not dangerous, just "adult". A block or two down and we found our watering hole for the evening - an Irish pub called "The Tin Whistle". The other teachers were already there and they were easy to spot since they were the only people in the place other than the staff.

I had a Tsingtao and we shot the breeze for an hour or so. The other American teacher (a 24 year old from Colorado) had a Corona. The beer cost 10 kuai each (about $1.50) The Chinese waitress was exceptionally rude, which I have found to be unusual in China. Almost everyone here is really nice to foreigners so I was taken aback when she practically yelled at me the price of the beer. Sorry lady, I didn't hear you the first time!

Eventually we got tired of the rude waitress and decided to look for a livelier atmosphere. Apparently that's hard to find in Chinese nightlife. The average Chinese person saves about 30-40% of their income, so except for a few karaoke establishments, most places don't get too crowded except on special occasions. We walked back towards Zhongshan Square and settled on a place called Rio that had outdoor tables. Rio was an interesting place. First, there were actually people there. Secondly, half of them were Chinese, and the other half were Russian. My fellow English teachers cautioned me to lower my voice when I pulled my "mother Russia" routine and started talking like a Muscovite gangster. At Rio we had some type of light lager draft beer. It wasn't bad. I also got to experience the unisex bathroom. Chinese toilets of course are porcelain bowls in the ground. I found it a bit odd utilizing this queer WC (as it's called) knowing a Russian girl was in line behind me for my stall. One must adopt the common refrain I've heard from other Westerners - "It's China!" And say it with a smile!

Around 12:15 I had gotten enough of my first taste of Dalian nightlife and the other American teacher and I got a cab back to "Da Lian Hai Shi Da Xue" 大连海事大学 aka Dalian Maritime University. Ironically enough the Irishman and the Brit decided to stay out and keep drinking. "I'm Irish!" he said.