Chinese New Year travels (Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Shanghai, back to Beijing)

Well, for those of you worried about my mental stability after reading the last blog post, it was written by Terri (but it was all true!). So, posing as Terri, I decided to send an e-mail to her parents that was almost as hilarious.

Well it's been a pretty good couple of weeks so far. Angela and I picked up Jon and Terri from Beijing without too much of a hitch (except we came mildly close to missing our train to come back to Shijiazhuang). In Shijiazhuang we had a great time. The first day we went to the donkey restaurant with mixed reviews from our guests. Later that evening we (Fabian, his girlfriend Sasha, and the four of us) went to get massages while watching Purple Rain ("for your initiation, you must bathe in the waters of Lake Minnatonka") and went out to eat to some restaurant where we were greeted by sordid, drunk patrons that loudly welcomed us, "Welcome to Shijiazhuang!!!" as we walked in. Later I took Terri to the McDonald's bar and we closed the place down. The next day we went out to eat to our favorite restaurant, Golden Mountain, with a bunch of our Chinese and foreign friends. Then we went to the McDonald's/Foreigner's Bar and then to Club Seven. The first few days in Shijiazhuang were mostly dedicated to recovering from jet lag and party times.

The first night we were in Shanghai we went to see some acrobats perform. Not only were there acrobats but there were jugglers and magicians. My favorite performance consisted of about 12 guys dressed like superheroes/sperm jumping through variously arranged rings. Later that evening I lost my camera. I was stone cold sober and it just fell out of my stupid jacket pocket in the hostel lounge area, never to be seen again. Hilariously enough, when we were in Beijing the night before leaving to go to Shanghai, Terri left her camera in a taxi...also never to be seen again. We made a trip to the Shanghai zoo which was funny, but slightly depressing. All the animals looked extremely sad...but, as Terri mentioned, when we saw the lions, one female lion started humping another female lion. Apparently, this got the male lion extremely aroused as he got up and mounted one of the females. After a minute of this, a roar signified the end of the sexual ecstasy. Later we fed monkeys and bears. The bears sat on their butts and clasped their hands together while the monkeys held out their hands and hit the bars to get our attention (no joke). Also, we watched a gorilla watch us until it turned around and puked an absurd amount all over the floor. Almost immediately, the gorilla started shoveling the pile of puke in his mouth and actually licked the floor clean. The Chinese that were watching the gorilla before promptly left but we laughed and watched the gorilla indulge himself. That same day we went to see a restored part of ancient Shanghai. It was pretty touristy, but it was cool to see some old architecture. I took Terri to a Buddhist temple (Jinjiang temple) that was close to our hostel (and we would see another one in Beijing as well). Although it sounds a bit ignorant or snobbish to say, many Buddhist temples are organized the same way and have many of the same attractions. Once you have seen a couple you've seen them all (at least from my experiences). Nevertheless, they are pleasant, relaxing places to go. The last full day we were in Shanghai we went on a 45 minute cruise along the river that runs through Shanghai (the name escapes me at the moment). We tried to make it for the 3 and a 1/2 hour log cruise, but alas, we ran a bit late as a result of faulty directions. We also went out a handful of times while we were in Shanghai. Most notably, we went to a "dive bar" on Ladies Night(voted the best in Shanghai, but definitely not a dive bar by my standards) called I Love Shanghai. The girls got to drink absolutely for free (from a select menu) and after spending some time there we went to dance club that surprisingly played some good music and danced our butts off. That's all I can remember for now...I'll most more on Harbin, Changchun, and others later. Pics will be up soon enough!

super awesome fun times

Heyy all. I know it's been awhile but I've just been so busy! New Years was a blast, I went to some city but I can't recall the name right now. We ate apples at midnight!

Terri got here and she's been real fucking cool. We've gotten into all kinds of trouble! In my town where I live that I can't spell right now we ate a shit ton of crackers. There was also clubbing, eating, and dancing to country music.

Then we all went to Shanghai! The best was the zoo when the chimpanzee threw up all over the place and immediately ate it all back up till the floor was clean. I laughed SOO HARD I almost puked myself!! We also fed bears and monkeys. I also saw some lion sex. It took a whole 30 seconds for that sun-of-a-gun!

Terri got a cold so when we went to the ancient city she couldn't smell any of the horribly offensive odors coming out of every corner! ewww.

Did I mention I don't drink things cold anymore? That's right. I've neglected my western ways and strictly drink hot things. It's WEEEIRD!

The bar we went to had a ladies night where Angela and Terri drank their asses off for free! I had so much fun paying for my own drinks and watching them drink for free. We then followed a stranger to a fun place and danced the night away. Terri puked.

Well, we have to wake up early to see to some wall business but I'll be posting super soon!!!!!!
BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!