A rainy night in Beijing.

I was craving an American-style hamburger last night. This phenomenon is so strange. When I travel abroad I start to crave things from the US (burgers, budweiser, ewwww) that I normally don't crave when I'm there. I gave in to it this time, and checked my guidebook to find a good location to get a burger in Beijing. So maybe it is not the most authentic way to go, but I've been on the road since August 8. Give me a break.

Mo and Jim were not up for the night out, so I went down to the taxi stand at the hotel. For some reason, perhaps it was the time (7:30PM) or the fact that it was raining, there was a 20 minute line to get a taxi. So I waited, and while I waited I chatted with a woman behind me in line. She said her name was Jenny, although I'm sure that was just a convenient pseudonym, and she told me that I should go to Club Mix after dinner, describing it as a good local hip hop club.

Right after she told me I finally jumped in my cab and gave the driver the address of Frank's, the ex-pat hangout where the allegedly good hamburgers were. He dutifully drove me 20 minutes across town to the address, where Frank's was. Small problem with the plan: Frank's is out of business. I guess that's what I get for relying on a guidebook. Now what? I was confused, with no back up plan, and I stalled while I looked back in the guidebook that had already failed me. My cab driver was ready to get rid of me. He drove me 3 blocks, pointed down a street, and said, "Down there there is lots." Off I went into the lukewarm and rainy Beijing night.

The cab driver had actually dumped me in a location that did, in fact, have lots. I walked past 5 large bars before settling on a place mostly because it was not raining inside and also because it did have an American-style hamburger. All was not lost. The hamburger was forgettable, but the french fries were not: hot, crispy, salty. These were the best fries I've had since leaving the states, so that was great. Equally great was the three person band, two women with a man who was playing a synthesizer guitar (awesome), that belted out covers of songs like Unchained Melody (totally awesome). I sat, ate my food, and took it all in.

I've found while traveling that if a disinterested party from the city I am visiting specifically recommends a place to go, and I have no good reason not to follow their advice, then I should at least check it out. Perhaps it was the two Tigers I had at the funny bar that gave me the gumption to give the club that Jenny recommended a go. I walked for 5 minutes before I jumped in another cab.

Another cab, another pointing at a piece of paper that someone else has scribbled chinese characters on. In this case, the scribbler was Jenny, who took a pad and wrote on it when I asked her how to get to Club Mix. These taxi drivers could literally "take me for a ride" if they wanted to, since it's pretty clear that if you cannot even say the place you want to go that you probably cannot police whether they are going the best route to get there, but the drivers seem to be on the up-and-up. In this case, the cab driver took me to a corner and pointed across the street at a parking lot. I pointed at the piece of paper. He nodded. I'm out in the rain again.

I walked around puddles and played frogger with oncoming traffic. This is a fun game to play, and the whole time you get the added bonus of imagining what would happen if you were actually hit. I made it across safely, but a security guard stoped me at the entrance to the parking lot. For some reason simply producing the paper Jenny gave me got me through this hurdle. I walked into the parking lot, past an Outback (weird), and saw the sign.

After paying the 5 dollar cover and checking my bag, I sat at the bar by myself, ordered a vodka tonic, and tried to dry out a little. I was feeling a little isolated, since I was the only person in the bar who was not Chinese. This was a local club, but the locals were friendly. After walking around the place and resettling at the bar, two women from Beijing sat down to my right. They ordered wine coolers, and we tried to talk, although it didn't go very well. During our conversation I asked them what was up with the drink that 50% of the bar was consuming. The drink was green tea, a brand I've never seen before, served in a large glass pitcher filled with ice, and with small glasses and whole bottles of scotch.

When I asked about it, though, the man sitting on the other side of the two women immediately poured one for me. Pour the iced tea first, then a little of the scotch. Now, I'm from Kentucky so I hardly ever drink Scotch, but this drink was pretty good. I was pretty happy because the experience was all new and I had 3 new friends there at the bar. The women dissappeared as soon as the dance floor filled, but I ended up drinking the tea/Johnny Walker drink for a couple hours with the man. He is an IT professional in Beijing, and Club Mix is his favorite hangout. He was happy to have me along, since I'm sure I provided a lot of entertainment.


The music was remarkably similar to the music you would find in hip hop clubs in any major city in the states, except for minor diversions that I found really comical. My favorite diversion was when a currently popular Usher song was mixed with C&C Music Factory's "I've got the power!" Ha. Also, if these people did not really have 20 dollar bills in their pockets they should not have been throwing their hands up.

Oh, we also went to the Great Wall earlier that day. As per usual, words do not do it justice. My thinking about it is twofold. First, I don't understand how it was done. My awe is similar to my feelings after seeing Machu Picchu. Second, I need to learn much more about it, as my superficial understanding of the place was exposed upon my arrival, and I now have great desire to remedy that problem. Just pictures now, as this post is already too long.

So true: