Beijing huan ying ni (Welcome to Beijing)

So I've been in China for about 4 days now and I must say I'm loving every minute. Unforunately I can't upload any pics from my BB, but my dad and stepmom have arrived with a new camera so I'm sure there'll be new ones coming soon.

The tl;dr version is basically having great food, buying awesome affordable gear, and indulging in a really happening vibe in Beijing. A friend from school was kind enough to take me out to the party scene and I have to admit I am seriously considering moving out here. Really, to make US$ while having minimal expenses along with world-class food and entertainment options really can't be beat.

The flight was a drag with United, and taking the airport express to save 75Y (~$17) might not have been the best option for my first time alone in the city (I'm working really hard to beoome a life nit), but I got there with everything intact and immediately fell in love with my boutique hotel, esp. since they upgraded me to a suite for my first night. I had a sick view since the hotel was mere metres from the east gate of the Forbidden City, and had all the luxuries I could wish for, especially since I had started coming down with a cold. I spent some time figuring out how to get my phone to work with a Chinese SIM (I kept getting weird cryptic messages since my BB doesn't support mandarin), and eventually gave up trying to contact my friend and went downstairs to eat instead. My dinner was amazing and comforted my cold symptoms, and the only complaint I have was them bringing me a serving of a specialty green tea (though it was delicious), when I had confirmed my request for basic complimentary tea. I mean, I suppose I could give them the benefit of the doubt for not hearing me properly, but chances are good that they are aware I won't be able to say no after the meal and 25Y isn't much for a foreigner anyway (yes, even though I look Chinese, speak Chinese, and act it for the most part, they say it's obvious - something about my "demeanor"). So on my first night I had tomato and egg noodles (homely fave), hot and sour soup, some marinated jellyfish and cucumber, and 2 servings of tea that was worth more than half the meal itself. The dining room had a pleasant atmosphere and the service for the most part was very inviting. In addition, I was very satisfied to go up to my room and draw a long bath while watching Forrest Gump on HBO and sleeping at a sane hour I could never allow myself back home.

The second day was just as awesome in a totally different sense. I shopped and haggled til I dropped, bought a plethora of goodies for amazing prices (even though I still got ripped off a lot compared to if I were local), and had 2 pleasant meals outside. The two malls I went to were pretty touristy, but I didn't care as there was a huge selection and the items were all much better quality than you'd expect. You really don't realize how many foreigners are in the city til you come to one of these, and the young shop girls able to bargain in 3-4 languages will let you know. The first meal was after the shopping, which is highly unusal because I am usually very cranky and unfunctional when I don't have food when I wake up, but I was simply too eager to shop and felt like I didn't have time to lol. I found a small bunch of street vendors in an alleyway off the road. There were exotic skewers, buns and dumplings of all kinds, and all the customers were local, so it had to be good. I ended up ordering a plate of goodies at 1Y (~0.15) per item, costing me a grand total of 5Y for an a la carte meal cooked in front of you. After going back to the hotel to relax for a bit and go through my purchases with glee, I made plans and took a quick nap before I went across the street to the famous Beijing night food market and had a bowl of specialty soup (I was nursing my cold and the cold) that lists for 30Y, that I paid 20Y for, but probably could be sold for 5Y to a local. It was divine, and he ingredients really were authentically nourishing - pig skin, shark fin, chicken, fancy herbs and mushrooms, quail eggs...; along with a local favourite, lamb skewers, it was another divine meal.

So my friend met up with me pretty late as he had a business meeting in my Tianjin, but nonetheless he was a great sport and took me out exhaustedly two nights in a row. My first Beijing nightlife experience was at Xiu at the Park Hyatt, a trendy upscale lounge/bar catering mostly towards foreigners and hot locals. I hadn't waited in line for a club for a long time, but this one was definitely worth it. There was an extensive live band that played very current club jams, and the vibe in general was very energetic and enticing. The drink prices were standard for Western bars, but when you see a round costing 350Y when you just bought a year's worth of accessories for less, it's kind of a reality check of sorts. But hey, let the foreigners have their status with their drinks costing a month's avg salary - the city's not complaining. I especially felt classy when my friend ordered a round of shots and having forgotten that I was sick and couldn't breath properly, I basically choked/poured the shot onto my face -.- Anyhow, I decided to stick wtih wine for the rest of the night.

The next day was sort of a write-off as you might expect. I attempted to play poker but realized the mere sight of the pixels on my screen sent my head swirling, so I nursed my hangover until I was ready to do it all over again lol. I had also run out of RMB (I thought I was responsible enough to make what I had last 3 days >.<), and by the time I was ready to step outside the bank was already closed. Anyhow my friend took me to yummilicious Yunnan hotpot with very delcious broth. It was a pleasant surprise that I had already started feeling much better, I guess between the soups and the alcohol killing the cold germs in my system. Then we stopped by Mesh lounge (I think that's the name) in another trendy boutique hotel called the Opposite House, a place I considered staying in before I remembered I'm supposed to be a nit grinder for awhile. Oh, did I mention there is NO LAST CALL? win. or lose. I'm not sure yet. Well then around 2 we went to a pretty local club called Coco Banana and had decent bottle service there with some of his friends who were all foreigners (and very nice people) as well. It was a very different scene from Xiu (this place still had squatting toilets ><), but the vibe was pretty good as well, and still way better than anything in T.o. imo.

I am writing this at the end of my 4th day, where I am now in Tianjin, reunited with my dad's side of the family. When I woke up pretty early this morning,(I can't really have a good night's rest when I drink) I was hastily approached by a poker friend online who apparently needed my help. He's a tournament player trying to SS Rush, and I was glad to be useful and sent him my almost-finished basic strat video (actually it's done I just have to blur out my SN in every frame and edit some parts I still hate, though I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with it unless I start from scratch. The stupid part is it's been at this stage for over a week, and I really should produce it soon). Well as you can see there's not gonna be much poker strategy on this blog, mainly trip reports and rantings related to poker, but I highly recommend any decent player to pick up the very profitable Rush on FTP (and play with a full-stack for so many reasons). I may post the vid here on this blog soonish, or try to work something out with Cardrunners, (though I don't think my first vid is good enough and I hate my voice.)

I then went back to the clubbing district (Sanlitun), had a brunchy meal at a fusion Chinese restaurant and roamed around in The Village til it was time for another city. Anways I then went back to my hotel, picked up my luggage, and decided to take a cab to the airport to pick up my parents (rather than exhaustedly try to maneuver my way through the Beijing subway system.) Oh, and I am so incredibly blessed and yet a complete disaster at the same time. At the airport, I clumsily left my LV bag with EVERYTHING - passport, RMB, CDN, US, credit cards, etc. etc. in the washroom stall. LUCKILY, I remembered within 5 minutes, ran back to the restroom, and was the washroom attendants were totally honest and valued being recognized with merit in their jobs rather than years worth of salary. They asked me to fill out a claim/commentary form, where they tell me it will bring them honour at their next meeting with their supervisors since nothing was missing from my bag when they could've quite easily have taken a whole other approach. whew.

Anyhow my 3 cousins who I haven't seen for 17+ years then approached me asking me if I was who they thought I was, and that was a fine reunion that made me really fuzzy inside. We then waited for awhile for my dad to arrive, and started heading back to Tianjin, where I was born. Did I mention how incredibly crazy drivers here were? No one checks their blindspots, it's all a push/shove riot to them, and my cousin probably stopped about a half dozen times on the side of the highway as cars were zooming inches from him to wipe the windshield since it had started snowing during the 2 hour drive. So I'm here on my cousin's desktop since her internet isn't set up on my laptop, but soon I will have wireless here and I can play some pokerz to not feel like a completely unproductive loafter, albeist one that is having an amazing time on this mini-vacation. I am staying at my eldest uncle's house, who has 3 lovable dogs who will make my stay even more enjoyable, and I realized I have a lot more in common with my cousins than I expected. Very exhausted atm, I prob should've did something even closer to a tl;dr version than this, but I'm glad I expended the energy.