Bar tab

Last month, I went out so infrequently that I was actually able to keep track of how many times I visited my favourite bars.  And it broke down like this:

12 Square Metres    -    7 visits

(A fairly puny total compared to the 3 or 4 per week average I was maintaining for much of last year; JK thinks I've deserted him!)

Amilal    -    5 visits

Pool Bar    -    3 visits

El Nido    -     2 visits

(One of them for the first anniversary bash a couple of Saturdays ago.)

Salud    -    2 visits

(Though once I just looked in and didn't stay.  The other was their rather excellent St Patrick's Day ceilidh with Blackwater.)

MaoMaoChong    -    2 visits

Sand Pebbles    -    1 visit

Jianghu    -    1 visit

(For Abaji's show there two Sundays ago.)

Aluss    -    1 visit

(For the 'opening night' party at the beginning of the month, with a marvellous performance by Mongolian folk musician Ajinai.)

Reef    -    1 visit

Ned's    -    1 visit

1st Floor    -    1 visit

(On 'cheap eats' Monday; at the start of the month, before I started fretting so much about my lack of cashflow!)

Paddy O'Shea's    -    1 visit

(For the Liverpool v Man Utd game at the start of the month; I don't like the place, but it is the only sports bar in town these days.)

Fubar    -    1 visit

(Only stayed for the one. The place always seems to be dead early evening. I'd like to make it my regular Sanlitun stop-off - on those rare occasions when I am returning from work or going out to dinner in that locale - but I can't get any of my friends on board with the idea.)

Face    -    1 visit

(Don't ask! Never again!!! It's a Shanghai bar in Beijing; I DO NOT APPROVE.)

Now, that might look like a pretty busy schedule, but.... believe me, it is as nothing to the amount that I usually go out. There was nothing really on the cultural calendar: no plays, no book talks, no concerts, no rock gigs. I only ate out 5 or 6 times in the whole month. And most of the above bar visits were combined, two or three (or four) in one night - so, I didn't go out at all on about two thirds of the days in the month. What's more, I think there were only a couple of occasions when I spent more than 200 kuai in a night, and quite a few where I spent less than 100; many of them were one-drink stops, and one was completely FREE; I probably spent less than 1,500 rmb on drink all month. 

Which is, I suppose, as it should be. I should try to aim for such moderation all the while.

But it will be hard, especially once I start gigging again....