to the left is a picture of the various heads of Ms china singing on stage with the laker girls.

the pics are out of order for the rest of the night so the telling of events might jump around a little. For anyone who has uploaded pics to blogger and controlled their order, please tell me what i am doing wrong. It seems pretty straightforward but i have been called slow before (usually for good reason).

this was the end of the night so you get an idea of how things end up. Since we were already on the east side of town we decided to go out to the bar districts. First we went to houhai. i would like to come back to this area during the day sometime. The name literally means back lakes. The area is lakes behind the forbidden city (north). There are many bars and restaurants around the lakes. It is supposedly the new hip place to hang out. It is also the location of the highest commercial rent in Beijing (although i would think guomao would be higher but...)

here is the entrance to the second bar of the night. chivas, reminded me of yonsuk from u of m. He used to swear by that stuff while everyone else was drinking crown.

back to houhai, it was pretty empty because it was cold out but the whole area is focused on the lakes. In the summer it should be a lot of fun. We walked from one entrance all the way around to the farthest bar on the other side. i was up for going anywhere inside (aka warm) but people kept finding something wrong with all the other places.

the last place was a shisha bar. They had a nice assortment of hookahs that you could choose from. We ended up just having a drink there and then splitting up to go different ways.

here is us at the bar. William, ju min, Eric (see the peace sign?), Michael and hua.

i liked the bar quite a but actually. It was really low key and pretty quiet. Seems like a good place to go to grab a drink and talk. Too bad it is thirty minutes away and not down the street. One of the drawbacks of this place according to the group was the cats (seen below) that had shed everywhere. They were pretty cute i thought even if they were a bit mangy and undernourished.

after a drink William and ju min left and Michael went home. hua, Eric and i decided to check out the other bar (chivas elevator) which was in saniltun. The other big bar district and the place that used to hold the title of hippest. Also the only district called out in my Microsoft travel advisory (something they give every international traveler that has lots of useful info) as violent. Have to look out for people wanting to knife foreigners there. Luckily i have been here so long people always mistake me at first blush for a local so i was not worried.

we ended up getting a table which meant we ended up getting a bottle and yes, of course it was chivas. Along with the bottle we got sweetened green tea which might be one of the best mixers for drinks i have ever tasted. i need to try sweet tea when i get home. Along with three sets of dice.

the dice game started to make more sense as we played quite a bit of it. The strategy is basically lying about what you have. There were a couple of key rules i learned that made a big difference from before. That was the exciting night at the bar. Drinking a lot while playing dice. To mix it up i took pictures like the one above with hua mourning the fact that he lost yet again. Also these pictures are possibly illegal. You are not allowed to take pics inside bars here and i managed to take a couple. The manager got pissed at me though after the second one and stood right next to our table to make sure i did not forget anymore. It was a good time going out and hanging out instead of kicking it in the crib.

the cab ride home was long because of many frequent stops for hua to get some air. When we arrived at the hotel he went to his room and i realized i had no rmb to pay the cab driver with. i tried to pay him with American but he was not having it. Finally i switched some money at the hotel which they did not want to do as i was not a guest. After paying the cab driver and starting to walk back to the apartment, the driver swung back around for one more round of screaming at me in Chinese through his window. Pissed off the manager at the bar, the hotel staff, the cab driver, Beijing is starting to be like home.

music recommendation, yeah yeah yeahs - machine & yeah yeah yeahs - shifty. If you combine their first two eps you get one of the best art rock albums ever. Karen o's vocals sound like something i cannot write about with family reading and nick zinner makes sounds with his guitar that i did know were possible. Besides with songs like art star with the lyric " I got a dealer in Tokyo I got a rep in Paris I got a agent in Colone Shit i got a gallery in New York!" how can you help but like them.