Friday Sept 5th: Woke up late with no plans for the day, no objectives or goals of any kind.
I knew for sure, however, that something would happen. I love it about this city, that almost every day you can experience a new place, meet a person from a different part of the world, or be required to get through a situation extremely frustrating. I’m at the point now, after much practice, that during the frustrating times, I can conciously think about 3 or 4 hours to the future when the situation will likely be over. I think improved patience will be one of the results I will most value from this time abroad.
Not until around 2pm did I even think about getting up off of the couch, but I had to go to the bathroom and wanted to take out the trash. On the way down the steps, when my legs were throbbing from the long run the previous day, I remembered meeting the owner of a massage parlor a block away the previous day. I figured what the heck and went down there because he told me it was pretty cheap. “The girl with the strong hands” was out to lunch they said, so they offered me a room to wait, lay down, relax, watch TV, whatever. I would otherwise be sitting on my own couch, not waiting for a massage, and also not drinking complementary flower tea, so I figured, “What the heck.” I ended up waiting for about two hours, but that included the tea, a head massage, listening to music, making some calls, and getting my feet prepped for the massage by soaking them in another type of tea in a big wooden bucket. It was great. When she arrived, I got an hour long foot and calf massage followed by an hour long “rest of the body” massage. All clothes stayed on, but it was still cool. Next time I’ll tell her to be a little gentler. She had really strong hands! 4 hours of massage/relaxation for 106 rmb or 15 usd. I think it was pretty good.
Went to dinner at Pyro’s Pizza, a white folks hang out near the university area, with some Chinese girls. They invited me to move in with them in a place a little outside the city, ie, cheap! We’ll go see a few places tomorrow or the next day. While at Pyro’s, I ran into some buddies from my IES summer program, so the girls left and I stayed with the guys and the new IES class. It was cool being the second most experienced person in the group, seeing the new kids full of awe and wonderment. Some more stuff happened, decided to go clubbing on the other side of the city because the first most experience guy (here since February) knew a partial owner of the club. I stuck by his side, and experienced proved me right, we got separated from the rest of the people.
Flash forward two hours, we are sitting the a very elaborate VIP room, plasma TVs, lights etc with the owner, his secretary, some Icelandic dudes, 5 or 6 waiters caitering to our every need for free, and 1 waiter who is juggling Malibu rum bottles with fire works sparking out of the tops! I didn’t have my camera, but I swear it happend and was surreal. We kept asking each other, “What is going on? How did we end up here? Why am I eating duck toungue dipped in wasabi?! … for free!” I got home at around 5 am.
Here is a quote about GT Banana from a nightlife website: “2000-guest capacity, 3000 m² (that’s nearly an acre, oldies!) megaclub. House music from big-name Chinese and international DJs strutting their stuff in this blend of Hollywood and rocket ship.” Youtube video
I knew something was going to happen.
Tags: cheap living, GT banana, massage, pyro's pizza, vip