Viva Mexi.... er China!

Greetings!

Well, I told you about our run in with the Mexican cantina... we went back on yesterday (Tuesday) night! We were in serious need for a break from China, and this is the place we'll be going... ;)

Let's preface:
Monday night I was having extreme (that's kind of a nice word...) difficulties with lovely Bank of America and them cutting off my funds because supposedly they didn't actually mark down the fact that I was traveling to China like I had originally told them. My Mom and Dad called me about the situation because I was flipping out about calling the bank "toll free" from China, and I couldn't find anywhere to do so... but My parents FINALLY were able to work all of this out on my behalf - amazingly! They also had B of A up my limit so I could take out more money after having screwed me over(I could only take 2500 yuan a day and needed about 8130 yuan, $1355 the following day for our new hotel).

Tuesday I got out some dinero, but it still didn't leave me enough money to pay the hotel when we got there, so Megan had to take out money only to find out apparently SHE had insufficient funds, which was totally not the case in her matter either. Banks are dumb, but at least they're "protecting" us. We were stressing out, and just had this horrible negative attitude, and were SO over China at this point. We ended up getting enough money out, but it was a struggle! We headed to our other hotel after we saw Mao.

I think it was totally the fake Mao! I mean, how can a dead person look that good after having been dead so long? Not possible. Anyway, he was in this glass case and we were probably 15 feet away from him. It was so random because they had flowers you could purchase to leave at his statue- the flowers were in perfect bundles, in which kind of flower they were. We figured it must be because they pick up all the flowers and take them back out to resell them. Clever Communists. Oh, and we had to go through "security" metal detectors, and I took out my inhaler from my pocket to go through... they asked me what it was, and I told them (by immitating what to do with the inhaler) and they made me actually use it! They had no idea what it was... which I find strange, just because there is so much pollution and smoking everywhere- Chinese must not get asthma. haha

Okay, so I saw Mao... then we went to our hotel. It's really funny because basically it's the smallest room I have ever seen, and the shower is like, over the toilet. I guess I haven't traveled that much, because Megan is talking about how this is so great and everything... ha! We're just glad we had enough money to actually check into the hotel- so we refresh and head out for Outback Steakhouse. (Yes, THAT Outback Steakhouse) Another side story- being that we're all for American food, Megan is all about going to Outback one day for lunch/dinner. When we went to the Temple of Heaven, we were going to go to Outback, but it's in this official Olympic hotel that requires a lovely yellow badge we don't have. Needless to say, just because you say you're American and own Outback Steakhouse (Megan REALLY wanted it...) doesn't mean anything in China if you don't have a yellow badge, so we were out of luck there. Well apparently, there are TWO Outbacks- that one, and the other just inside the Worker's Stadium (where soccer will be played). That one isn't too far from our hotel, so we decided to get a cab and head over there.. well, IT'S CLOSED. Looking forward to an amazing meal again, but no... so there was this cafe in the area we opted to go to instead- Gino's. I had some spaghetti and Megan had fetuccini. You have to love China... haha! It was alright, but we were just really looking forward to those giant margaritas later in the evening!

We headed back to our hotel to meet up with Ali (he was on Megan's tour she took before we met up in Beijing) and his friend Paul (who works for the BBC- fun times!) for the Saddle Cantina. It was Ali's last night in Beijing so we had to go out with a bang. There were even more Americans there on the 5th than there were two days earlier. CINCO DE DRINKO, they called it- where all drink were half price, AND it was taco Tuesday! They had some sombreros, so we grabbed a couple for our fiesta, and I got to speak some Spanish (not to anyone, just randomly out loud because it was fun)! We went to the bar because they were packed, and ordered margaritas... I saw a table open up, so I went over to it and held onto a chair. When I had turned around to tell Ali and Paul I got a table, some dude sat in the chair! I was so mad, but he wasn't budging. His friend came over and said we would play paper, rock, scissors for it. I won the first round, we tied the second, and he won the last two, meaning I lost the table. I was SO pissed, but we ended up getting a better table up on the deck. Stupid Americans. ;) Oh, I forgot to mention I had no money at this point because I used it all to pay for our hotel, so Megan had to spot me. We were having a good time, but we decided to move the party elsewhere because Ali wanted to dance, and it was his night to go out with a bang. We walked down SanLuiTun, and ended up at this place called the Armaini Club- a techno dance bar. Wow. Man, those Chinese can MOVE... HAHA! I have video that I'll put up here hopefully in the near future, and it is AMAZING. We had a drink here, but didn't end up dancing very much... well, the dance floor is spring-loaded, so I had to try it out a little teeny bit anyway. Oh, and I think maybe a Chinese guy hit on me. I'm not exactly sure... haha! We then decided to go to yet another bar, so we hopped in a taxi, only to be taken again to some random place because the driver didn't know where to go, so we just called it a night.

Today we went to the silk market where I tried my hand at bargaining! It was loads of fun! "Hey lady..." "Hey pretty lady..." "Hey friend..." "good price for you" "best price, just for you" "You want shox?" "I have stuff for you only" "I remember you, come buy shoes here" - what a trip these people are! I got myself a nice pair of Chanel sunglasses (ooooh ahhh) for 50 yuan, which is under $10. They started at 500, so I was pretty excited. Granted, that probably is still way too much, but it's okay. It was practice for later shopping experiences! We had lunch at Subway (yum!) and then had to say goodbye to Ali because he leaves back to the UK tonight. Sad times. Then we decided to find an internet cafe, so here we sit! It's so random, really... there's about 100 or so computers, with a bunch of chinamen playing games, mainly... and you can smoke in here, which is making my head and eyes hurt, but it's so cheap to use the computer!

On another note, I'm so surprised at how cheap (at the time) it is to use a cab or public transportation! It costs 1 yuan for the bus (20 cents), 2 yuan for the subway (40 cents), and taxis start at 10 yuan for a few kilometers (which is like, $1.50 or so, and that's all we need for most places!)! It's crazy cheap! I mean, it's totally adding up, but it's pretty sweet that you can get a cab so much cheaper here than at home.

I stil hate the smell, and I'm still looking forward to home, but we're trying to have a positive mental attitude about things. PMA, as Megan likes to say. I guess it just needs to be 8/11 for our first Olympic event! I don't even know what it is, but it's bound to be good.

I have a favor for you all- please eat giant salads and drink ice cold glasses of milk for me (it doesn't have to be at the same time or antyhing, just do it). I miss them.

Toodles!

OH! WATCH THIS VIDEO! IT'S PRETTY MUCH AMAZING... AND EVERYWHERE IN CHINA! HAHA! There's one with the 'top singers' of China (including Jackie Chan, whom I didn't know sang! Haha)


And another one with just random people.. but their expressions are HILARIOUS! Even if you mute it, just watch it. Seriously. Amazing.