Sunday, July 11, 2010

Chinese bar scene

This last Friday night I went out for Taiwanese dinner with a Chinese buddy of mine from Shenzhen.  I think it was the first time eating TW food and it was pretty good.  Only slightly different from some of the mainland dishes but all in all a bit more refined or western.


From there we went out to a couple of Chinese clubs.  The first one was ok and had a fair amount of foreigners in it.  The 2nd one he had friends at but was literally almost 100% local Shanghainese.  I think I only saw one or two other foreigners in there.  


The scene was pumping loud western music and lights flashing.  And when I say loud it was LOUD!  Barry knew a group of folks so we hung out with them.  A few spoke English but many didn't.  The language barrier was no problem thanks to the whiskey.  They were doing bottle after bottle of whiskey mixed with green tea.  Actually tasted pretty good.


The tables around us though were in rare form.  It seemed to be each table trying to outdo the others on champagne.  One table I swear went through 25-30 bottles.  They just kept coming and coming.  This was the socialite scene of Shanghai and part of the scene is to buy for everyone and show that you have money.  One would have thought we were in LV, LA, NY or somewhere else and not Shanghai.  I'm guessing that some of the guests were celebrities or children of government folks.  This was the one place in all of China where they did not allow cameras and photos.


Upon leaving I noticed a fair amount of Ferrari's, Porsche's, etc.  So yes this was the upscale crowd.  


Wisely I went home early.  However Sat when I awoke my ears were still ringing thanks to the loud-ass music!


A fun time but not one that I am planning to make on a weekly routine.  

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