Thank God it’s Friday - is not only the name of an American burger restaurant chain, but also the title of a film from 1978 directed by Robert Clane and with stars such as Donna Summer, Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger. It is also our slogan today.
We finish work a little earlier on Fridays, because we have our weekly work meeting where we discuss various work related topics and after that it’s Chinese class for those interested. I have to say, that quite a few colleagues are interested and it fills me with pleasure to see how eager they are to learn. This is one of the perks of this job. I’m quite happy about the free Chinese language lessons and happy to see that many of my colleagues are interested too. Unlike in Riyadh last year, where the University I was working at, offered free Arabic courses, but none of the colleagues was interested. It was sad to see that many of them were already many years in the country and didn’t speak a word of Arabic, nor had they travelled anywhere outside the Diplomatic Quarter and Riyadh. All they were interested in, was to earn and save as much as they could. The funny thing is, that despite not going places or doing things, they complained about everything. To my fortune, things are different here.
Tonight’s plan is to go to Paulaner’s. Paulaner’s is named after the Munich beer Paulaner and is a bar/restaurant on the rooftop of the five star Kempinski hotel. My housemate has been there already and has told me all about it. I want to see it too. Can’t quite believe that people here drink Munich beer.
We walk a few minutes to the big crossroad and wait a little for a taxi. A few private cars stop and ask where we would like to go. We tell them, but since our destination is in the centre and too far away for them, they don’t drive us. Never mind. We wait for a normal taxi. A minute later, a taxi stops and we tell the driver our destination. He understands that we want to go to the centre, but doesn’t understand where. We show him screenshots of the area in which the Kempinski hotel is and his eyes seem to sparkle. We get into the taxi in good believe and the driver drives off. Twenty or so minutes we arrive downtown and the driver wants to see the screenshots again. I give him my mobile, tell him Kempinski, but we realise that he doesn’t really have a clue. The driver asks a few passersby, but they have no clue either. I wonder how he got his licence. Doesn’t know the street, doesn’t know the hotel, etc. After driving us around for a little, we decide to get out and walk.
All the time in the taxi we couldn’t get a signal to use a GPS, but now we pass a bar with free WIFI and we log in. We see that we’re not that far and walk towards that direction. We finally find the hotel and have to go around the block to the other entrance for the Paulaner’s. There we take a lift to the top floor. While waiting for the lift, I notice the Paulaner signs between the two lifts and take photos. The ride up is quite spectacular, because the lifts are attached to the outside wall and you can enjoy a nice view through the windows while going up or down.
When we reach the top and get off the lift, a Chinese waitress dressed in a local Bavarian dress greets and welcomes us. I’m surprised I have to say. Didn’t expect that. The dress looks funny on a petite Asian lady. As we enter the place, I see that the male waiters are dressed in the local Bavarian dress too. A band is playing Chinese and international pop and rock music. No Bavarian music? I’m disappointed and not amused.
We go out onto the terrace where we see two people we know, an Italian and an Algerian guy. I got to know them on my first night in Guiyang at the birthday party. A funny looking waiter comes and we order a 3-litre-beer-tower. It comes with some finger food and small water glasses. I object and order proper beer glasses. A minute later a waitress takes away the water glasses and a waiter brings us proper 0.5-litre ones. Some more people join us after a while and we empty the beer tower quickly. Among those people is a football player from Cameroon who plays for the local team. We order a second tower and enjoy the warm air and the view from the rooftop.
We then decide to move downstairs to the club Muse 2. It’s past midnight and the club is full of people. As we enter the club, many people look or even stare at us. I guess they mostly stare at the giant black football player than at us. We go to the bar, the football payer takes the menu and orders a bottle of expensive liqueur. It comes with some finger food, a bucket of ice cubes, some cans of coke and the appropriate glasses. The DJane is in a very good mood and plays some good music. We hit the dance floor, since no one is dancing (Chinese don’t like to dance, they go to clubs and sit around, drink and talk or play dice games), and immediately several Chinese join us.
After a while we are asked to clear the floor due to a performance that is about to commence. We go to the bar, have our drinks and enjoy the show.
The fun doesn’t last long though, because around 2am, people start to leave. Where are they going, i wonder. The music is excellent, why should they leave? Our football player wants to leave too. He wants to go to a bar to meet his girlfriend, so we leave with him. Since he speaks Chinese, he organises taxis and tells the drivers where we want to go. A short ride later, we arrive in a little Cul de Sac with a few street kitchens, many people walking up and down and two signs shining into the night. One reads Helen’s and the other one Muse. Helen’s, the bar we’re about to go to, is an expat bar with cheap booze. It is THE place to get cheaply drunk. As soon as I get in and see all the drunk expats, I want to leave again. I am told that we’ll stay for a drink and move downstairs to Muse 1. So, I stay and go to the bar to order a drink. While I wait for my warm Chinese beer (an expat bar that doesn’t serve cold or foreign beer????), I look around the place. I see that the decoration consists mainly of wood. Keep your lighters and matches in your pockets folks and don’t do anything stupid! It looks rather Mexican and is very spacious. There are tables with a bench on either side that fit six to eight people in total and it is quite loud. It’s not the music though, it’s the screams and shouts of the drunks. I get my beer and go back to the tables where my people are and have a closer look and listen to the conversations of the various people. The scene reminds me of my time in Italy with all those young US American students whose life’s task it was to get hammered every night and brag about it for weeks on end and tell each other how many shots or pints they had in a night. Please shoot me now!
We don’t leave after one drink of course, mainly because some ordered Gin in a bucket and need their time, so I get bored and want to leave. Suddenly some people from another table decide to leave and I go with them to Muse 1. Helen’s is on the first (western, second Chinese) floor, so we go down the stairs to the ground (western, first Chinese) floor and enter the club. Muse 1 is much bigger and brighter than Muse 2. The walls and the entire decoration is not black or dark, but white and in pale colours. There’s a little dance floor in front of the DJ area and a smaller one at the side, opposite the bar. Both a packed with people. I pass by the smaller dance floor and the Chinese people on it wave their arms and hands. I wave back and some drag me onto the stage. I dance with them for a while until I see my housemate, the football player and some others approaching the bar. I go have a drink with them and make my way to the loo. Both Muse clubs have the same arrangement. On the right are the urinals for the men, on the left the cubicles for the ladies, which men are also allowed to use, in the centre is the common washing area and right at the entrance is a seating are with cosy sofas, nice decor and kitsch lamps.
On my way back to the bar and to my people, I pass behind the DJ stage. There’s a small corridor separating the DJ stage from the VIP lounges. A few people walk towards me. The first is a girl who smiles and greets, I greet and smile back. The second is a girl who does the same. The third is a young man who also smiles and greets. Behind him are three more ladies. The second girl and the boy grab my hand, turn me around and lead me to their table in the VIP area. I am asked to take a seat and a glass appears immediately in front of me and is filled with Whisky and green tea. Chinese, not all of them, love to drink. But they hardly ever drink their booze pure and never on the rocks. All drinks have to be warm. They mix alcoholic drinks either with green tea or with juice or with a soft drink. Whisky with green tea tastes and smells weird, but it’s nice and sweet. There’s a second young man at the table who offers me a cigarette. I want to refuse, but he doesn’t accept it. I have to smoke. When my glass is filled, he fills all the other glasses and first I toast with the two men. Both down their drinks, I only take a sip, which they don’t like. I’m urged to down it too. As soon as I put my glass down, it gets filled again and it’s the ladies’ turn to drink with me. When we all lift the glasses, I hear the young man sitting next to me say: Welcome to China! Followed by laughter. The girls down it, and I take a sip again, which they don’t like. All of them make a gesture that I have to empty my glass and the girl sitting next to me lifts my glass with her hand and leads it to my mouth. Welcome to China! Says the young man next to me. This game continues, because now each of them want to drink with me individually. The young man on the right says every time: Welcome to China! Followed by laughter. They take various photos of me drinking and individual ones with them on my side. I manage to take one photo with one of the girls. Unfortunately not with the ‘Welcome to China!’ guy. The other young man has fallen asleep and doesn’t take part anymore.
They also feed me various fruits and nuts and finger food. I lose track of time, but at some point I feel my mobile phone buzzing in my pocket. I look at the screen and see many worried messages from my housemate. I try to get up and they won’t let me go, so I tell them I need to go to the loo and disappear. I takes a while until I reach the bar, not because I’m quite drunk, but because the club is packed now and many people stop me on the way to either have a photo or talk to me.
All I know is that I need fresh air. Luckily my housemate is tired too, so we get into a taxi and show the driver the address of our school. He doesn’t seem to know it, which is no surprise, but when he hears Jinyang, a spark appears in his eyes and he drives off.
Both of us pass out on the backseat and a small eternity later the driver wakes us and tells us something in Chinese. We both look outside the window and see a school, but it is not our school, it is an international school, nearer by our house. Luckily my housemate knows where we are and where we have to go and directs the driver to the nearest point of our housing complex.
Both of us fall dead to sleep.Welcome to .....
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
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