Ross' Last Night

Woke up at 7:30, feeling rested. I had that feeling which wasn't quite a hangover but the knowledge that one more drink last night would have led to one. I drank some water and got ready for work.

Spent a while on the phone with home, then walked down the street to pick up a new charger for my phone. Never found the place... Got a cab and arrived at work at 10:01.

Left work at 5:57. Got lucky and picked up a cab as soon as I stepped out of the tunnel on the westbound side of Jianguomenwai.

Stuck in traffic on Jianguomenwai, I crawled to Chapin's hotel.

When I picked Chapin up, we went back to the hostel so I could change out of my work clothes. Then we set to Yashow, the market nearby, where we met Mingwei. We ran inside and I got another phone charger to replace the two-week old one that broke for 15 yuan, or $2, which I got down from 60.

Mings and Chaps and I walked down to the Chinese restaurant we all ate in last week, with a great Beijing Roast Duck, and pigged out on classic Beijing food for incredibly cheap compared to the states, and midranges for China. - $7 a person.

We walked back up Gongti Bei Lu to the bar street, where we found Ross, Cole, Alex, Kuldeep, and a friend of Ross's. We went into Smuggler's, where we stayed for the rest of the night.

We played card drinking games and dice drinking games. Chapin and Mingwei headed home at 11:45 but I stuck around, since Ross is leaving tomorrow for home.

We met some English speakers, one of them half-Chinese, half-Australian; an interesting combination. She was about to go to the states, well, tomorrow, for 2 months. I gave her a good itinerary for the places she was going.

Learned an interesting game involving a glass, a quarter, a napkin, a lighter and a lit cigarette. You wet the edges of the glass and lay a napkin flat across the top of the glass. You burn the edges of the napkin so it's just that top of the glass covered. You then place a quarter on the middle of the napkin. Everyone takes turns burning the napkin a little bit with a lit cigarette until the quarter falls in. The one who knocks it in drinks. I'm going to need to play that at school.

Despite my want to stay out really late for Ross, I went back at 2, after saying my goodbyes to Ross (Who I found out the next day had thrown up in the street and had been screaming about various agencies tracking everyone - too much booze), whom I hope I see again. He'd be a good travel partner, and I fully expect him to give me a call if he's looking to go somewhere and needs someone to go with.

Got a rickshaw for 10 yuan and made it back to the hostel.

Met two Aussies in the lobby looking to make the trip on the transSiberian soon in the opposite direction I did. I gave them a lot of info and advice about Beijing and Sanlitun and the train ride. Jessie and Ben were very greatful, I think, and perhaps I'll see them again.

At 3 I went to bed. Not quite the 1am I had planned for but better than the 5am that Alex, Cole and Kuldeep are sure to be out till. They have work tomorrow too. And tomorrow night is all-you-can-drink at Propoganda....