Our first stop was a two story restaurant/ pool lounge with an arcade in the basement. It's twenty yuan for an hour of pool and it took us nearly fifty minutes to finish our first game. Yes. We really do suck. But, it was fun. The people playing around us seemed pretty serious. Most of the plays had special gloves designed to make the cue slide over their fingers more easily. We lost track of how many games the table behind us went through during our one. We didn't really need to know.
Afterwards we hit the arcade in the basement. No Guitar Hero, but there were like, seven different rhythm/ percussion games. We picked one and Gavin creamed me two out of three. It was hectic and a lot of fun. Then we pumped a few coins into Time Crisis 4, one of my absolute favorite arcade shooters. After that we had enough left for a racing game (which kind of sucked) and one spare for the coin pusher. We didn't win. All that for only five Yuan. (Still less than one USD).
After the arcade we went to the Irish pub we'd visited a few nights ago. We checked a few other places but the other bars seemed quite expensive and neither of us really wanted to go to a club on a Monday night. In the end, I think we made the best possible decision.
The bar was hosting karaoke and they had a live accompanist on guitar. We saw a few really talented Chinese songs performed and then waved the server down and asked to see the book. Everything was in Chinese. Should have seen it coming. Gavin went up and asked the guitarist if he knew any English songs and ended up performing "Hey Jude" for the crowd. Unfortunately, I don't think Gavin's mic was on because I could only her the guitarist singing. He was quite good.
I wanted to do a number but Gavin told me that the guitarist claimed "Hey Jude" was his only English song. I should mention, he was playing Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" as we were discussing this. When he walked by our table Gavin asked, on my behalf, if I could just borrow the guitar. He shrugged and ushered me onstage. I played "Such Great Heights" as performed by Iron and Wine and tried to hand the guitar back to the musician. He waved me off and continued to talk to a pretty woman at a table near the stage. Then he just left. I ended up playing basically my entire repertoire. Gavin filled in for vocals on a few (using the mic that worked this time). He's got quite a good voice though I don't think he knew the lyrics for any of the songs all the way through. I even got a request. I didn't know the song but there was a computer on stage so I found the tabs and stumbled through "With or Without You." The Chinese guy who made the request seemed pleased enough. I played for an empty bar for awhile just because I missed having a guitar to play.
Eventually I was simply out of material and my fingers were killing me so I went out to join Gavin who was in conversation with one of the waitresses. She studied business English and was reveling in the opportunity to practice. Eventually we made our excuses and started to leave and we were flagged down by a table of Londoners who'd been able to hear me playing through the outdoor speakers. Apparently they'd decreed "we go when they go." And they didn't want to go yet. I'm so glad we joined them.
I was nestled between Tasha and Chris. Chris is a banker and was soft spoken, interesting, and interested in politics and economics. Though I have to say: the real treasure was Tasha. She has an advanced degree in neurology so we talked about everything from the new world order to the singularity to the differences between Chinese and English. We both agreed it was good to air out our inner nerds a bit. It was nearly 3:30a.m. before we finally left.
Well played Guilin. You certainly know how to spruce up a Monday.
I wanted to do a number but Gavin told me that the guitarist claimed "Hey Jude" was his only English song. I should mention, he was playing Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" as we were discussing this. When he walked by our table Gavin asked, on my behalf, if I could just borrow the guitar. He shrugged and ushered me onstage. I played "Such Great Heights" as performed by Iron and Wine and tried to hand the guitar back to the musician. He waved me off and continued to talk to a pretty woman at a table near the stage. Then he just left. I ended up playing basically my entire repertoire. Gavin filled in for vocals on a few (using the mic that worked this time). He's got quite a good voice though I don't think he knew the lyrics for any of the songs all the way through. I even got a request. I didn't know the song but there was a computer on stage so I found the tabs and stumbled through "With or Without You." The Chinese guy who made the request seemed pleased enough. I played for an empty bar for awhile just because I missed having a guitar to play.
Eventually I was simply out of material and my fingers were killing me so I went out to join Gavin who was in conversation with one of the waitresses. She studied business English and was reveling in the opportunity to practice. Eventually we made our excuses and started to leave and we were flagged down by a table of Londoners who'd been able to hear me playing through the outdoor speakers. Apparently they'd decreed "we go when they go." And they didn't want to go yet. I'm so glad we joined them.
I was nestled between Tasha and Chris. Chris is a banker and was soft spoken, interesting, and interested in politics and economics. Though I have to say: the real treasure was Tasha. She has an advanced degree in neurology so we talked about everything from the new world order to the singularity to the differences between Chinese and English. We both agreed it was good to air out our inner nerds a bit. It was nearly 3:30a.m. before we finally left.
Well played Guilin. You certainly know how to spruce up a Monday.
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