Some rare quality time alone with The Chairman, my oldest buddy in Beijing
(He lives a long way out of the city centre, works most weekends, and these days also spends a lot of time with one or other of the two [of his many] brothers who have now also come to work in China. So, I hardly ever get to see him on his own any more. One of the brothers was in fact threatening to join us after an early Christmas dinner with colleagues on the other side of town, but that plan misfired - and we were left to ourselves all evening. Bliss.)
A particularly good nang bao rou in our new favourite Muslim restaurant
(This is about my favourite dish in China, and something of a litmus test for Xinjiang restaurants. It's lamb and veggies in a spicy tomato broth, with a huge round flatbread submerged at the bottom of it. The interpretation of it we were treated to this night was distinguished by an especially thick broth [almost too thick - it was taking a long time to soak into the bread], an unusually fresh, fluffy naan bread, and exceptionally generous chunks of gorgeously sweet carrot [one of my favourite vegetables, but not much used in China, and not usually featured anywhere near so prominently in this dish]. Bliss.)
An improvised bar crawl, exploring a little outside of our usual well-worn patch
(This was necessitated by the throng in our favoured Pool Bar in the mid-evening, and was, to be honest, an indifferent success. However, I enjoyed the sense of adventure, of at least attempting to break out of our rut a bit. We did discover a new-ish pool hall [also packed out, alas], a brand new African bar [a curious novelty in this corner of Beijing!!], and what might just be the least charming bar in Beijing [it's in a basement, has stark decor, a high ceiling - which, in combination with the tinselly Christmas decorations, somehow put me in mind of 'The Poseidon Adventure' - and absolutely no customers, even on this party night of party nights...... we did not stay!]. Not exactly bliss, but a diverting walk.)
Chancing upon a particularly jolly party in another favourite bar..... and being smitten
(Our thwarted exploration of the surrounding streets had left us near to the lovely little Jianghu bar, my regular Thursday night haunt. It too was packed out, but mostly with familiar faces - just about all the non-laowai regulars! An assortment of local musicians were jamming away together high-spiritedly, and the boss's girlfriend was leading a karaoke session, encouraging people to follow her example and step up to the mike to sing a song or two [luckily, they all had pretty good voices]. I don't think I've ever heard 'Jingle Bells' played on an electric guitar before! It was a lovely atmosphere, and everyone was being very friendly to us, but we felt we ought not to get stuck there for too long. We had anxieties about getting up the next morning [I had arranged a dangerously early Christmas lunch for us]. We had anxieties also about falling too heavily for The Stylish Girl. She's quite a regular there - stunningly attractive [not classically Han Chinese; from somewhere out West, I'd guess], vivacious, and a very elegant dresser; I suspect she may be a student from the nearby Central Academy of Drama. I've swooned over her a few times before, but she was particularly eye-catching that night, and...... well, The Chairman's ogling and drooling was beginning to embarrass me..... I feared it was calling attention to my own..... Bliss. Well, blissful heartache, anyway.)
Stopping in for 'just the one' at the Pool Bar on the way home
(We found that by 11.30 or so, the young Chinese revellers were dispersing, and suddenly the pool table was free. Not only that, but M - the most formidable player there, the man I have long been trying to set up as 'The Challenger' to The Chairman - showed up at almost exactly the same time as us. Alas, he had not brought his best game with him - the responsibilities of being a new dad [perhaps that should be his blogname from now on] have been undermining his form of late. The Chairman came out ahead in this first challenge match. Heck, even I managed to beat New Dad once. Then I managed to beat The Chairman. That was some of the best damned pool I've played in a long time. Maybe it was the rather good White Russians Luke's dad was making for us. I might quite happily have stayed all night - but New Dad had to go home to be a new dad, and The Chairman was also a little off his game.... so, we were 'sensible', for once, and toddled home at about 1am. Bliss.)
Staying up late, talking of life and love....
(The Chairman crashed at my place. He decided he wanted a cup of Earl Grey before he turned in. I decided I wanted a stiff Jim Beam. We ended up chatting for another hour-and-a-half. Bliss.)
No comments:
Post a Comment