Jiaxing (and Shanghai)… By Night!

A few times a week it’s customary to have a meal with any number of our coworkers. A couple favorites include Sichuan (or Szechuan, as most of you back home know it) and Hot Pot (a little like fondue without sticks), but there are a few traditional places and a Thai and Japanese place that warrant the occasional visit. On the very rare occasion we might break down and get some Papa John’s. Afterward it’s not uncommon that we go to a bar (where sometimes the bartenders aren’t only just bartenders, as we’ve discovered. One time one was laying on the flirt pretty thick with one of the Senior Teachers. When his Chinese wife approached, the bartender composed herself and apologized for trying to “steal her business.”) or maybe play some pool (where I prove that even after years of work at my skills with a cue at Boylan Heights I still leave a lot to be desired when it comes to pool playing). This was always enjoyable, but it gave the impression that the nightlife was pretty quiet in our little Chinese town.

Then last week Laura met this guy at (where else might foreigners meet) McDonald’s who was here teaching for a year with his friend after they’d both graduated in May (sound familiar?). In their time here they’d been introduced to the club scene of Jiaxing, and paid the knowledge forward. It’s a pretty funny scene. They all have great names like “MIX” (which Laura understood as “Mick’s” and proceeded to accidentally call “Mike’s” all night), “Boiling Point,” “No. 88 International VIP Club,” and “No. 99 Club” (true story). They’re all ornately decorated; almost like a Disneyland portrayal of Renaissance, even down to the staff members vaguely resembling members of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. These staff members lead you through what seemed like a maze of “marble” floored hallways with giant wood-framed mirrors on the walls to a table, where they stand vigilantly by to open each and every one of the beers they bring in buckets– not when they bring them, but when you actuall come to that beer. And you can’t forget the excessive numbers of huge chandeliers that grace the ceilings.


If that looks like a conga line, that’s because it is. Unlike most clubs I’ve seen, there wasn’t a huge dance floor that I noticed. There might be a little area near the DJ booth but mostly people just stand around their tables eating fruit (yes, in addition to drinks you can order fruit to your table) and playing dice. In a few places there was a stage, where we saw everything from a fat white guy in a Bulls jersey performing Black Eyed Peas songs with a white girl I legitimately thought was a prostitute when we arrived, to a sick nasty troupe of Chinese boy-band-esque dancers, to a line of regular clubgoers who seemed influenced by too much to drink and too little attention. And yes, in one place, there was a real live conga line snaking its way throughout the club.

‘this way!’ he motions. (okay so not all of them were dressed like swiss guards but the ones at the door were!)

midriff is really in this season

so is the ‘i took a lawnmower to my top’ look

from the infamous dice game

everyone shares bottles of beer, drinking  smaller amounts out of rocks glasses

lolz to laura’s face… we convinced the cabbie to let five of us ride on account of laura and me being ‘er ge xiao ren,’ (what i later realized was atrocious chinese for ‘two small people.’ [when referring to numbers of actual things you use 'liang' instead of 'er' for 'two'. amateur mistake!])

yay for fun and interesting jiaxing nightlife!

And a few nights ago our McDonald’s friend mentioned he was going to Shanghai to meet a friend for dinner if we’d like to come along. Intrigued at the prospect of a mere daytrip to Shanghai we accepted. Between confusion over east and west when leaving the metro, the friend suspecting he had food poisoning, and the realization that no trains ran between 9 and midnight (so we really needed to be on the 9 o’clock train) the trip was actually even more shortlived than expected. It’s still cool to have the knowledge that we can really just hop over to Shanghai and come back on a whim, really.

in shanghainan station

jiaxing station

one’s own reputation– why the fuss?
one’s own wealth– why the concern?
i say, what you gain is more trouble than what you lose
love is the fruit of sacrifice
wealth is the fruit of generosity
be content
rest in your own fullness
you will not suffer from loss
you’ll avoid the share of this world
you’ll have long life and endless blessings
-tao te ching; verse 44

[edit]
Some of you have requested my address. Before I provide it let it be known that one of the two packages Laura’s received took two weeks to arrive; the other took two months. They were both pretty expensive to ship. Don’t worry… I understand if I have a lack of packages this year.

Here it is:
EF English First
IF North Building
Huifeng Square
West Central Ring Road
Jiaxing, Zhejiang 34000
China