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The staccato-like pulse of China continues to beat as the rollercoaster ride continues in the Middle Kingdom. Incredible beauty, stifling bureaucracy and clubbing with the kids..
The town of Lijiang is truly a gem. It's a mixture of Dubrovnik, Florence and Venice. Beautifully preserved with a rich ethinc/minority population, the Naxi, walking the streets and alleys is a delight. Of course the clubs here are a blast as well, but more on that later.
During our wanderings today Celeste and I came across an interesting fellow. We were enjoying our watermelon juice and cappucino and he was across the street drinking his Bordeaux wine yelling across the way at me. Much was lost in translation, but the waitress was kind enough to tell us roughly he wanted to have a drink with me. I shouted back that as soon as we were done we would gladly join him. We finished up and walked across the street to the hip joint and he poured me a fresh full glass of Bordeaux. We proceeded to muddle through talking to each other, but in essence we were brothers. He gave me the hands-together sign to prove it and I did my best Al Swearingen impersonation to Mr. Wu and crossed my first and middle finger. We hugged and he gave me a kiss on each cheek and promised to call me. It was quite a laugh and good time as we slurped down our French wine.
A slight downer was our visit to the PSB, you may know it as the Public Security Bureau. Among other things it's where you go to extend your visa in China. Since we'd like to stay here 38 days we need to extend our 30 day visa. Of course we've already paid US prices, meaning 5x what another country would pay, for a full 30 days and those 8 days will cost us the same price, but that does not mean it will be any easier to extend our visas. We had a very helpful employee helping us amidst the heaps and mounds of bureaucracy - think of the DMV on steroids. Still we could not overcome the rules and regulations and have to put off our extension for another 10 days or so. Still we took some pride in actually finding the place given all references on the Internet were wrong and there's not much English to be found on the streets of Lijiang.
Since tonight is our 200th day traveling we decided to live it up a bit and we went out clubbing. That's right, clubbing. Here in this beautifully preserved UNESCO village there are multiple pulsating nightclubs. True to form in China it makes no sense to have this charming village and these obnoxiously loud clubs, but somehow it works (or something). Amy and I ordered some beers, I could not resist tonight after months of ordering the local beer, to order us Budweisers. Amy and Celeste quickly got sucked into a group line-type dance with the locals. A local came over and gave me a big cheers. Big smiles all around as Nina and I grabbed a table. The party was just starting.
Now I've enjoyed sitting outside our room on the balcony of the hotel we're at overlooking the town and sure as the sun rises in the east Gangnam-style is played at some point at the clubs. Tonight was no different and as if I was magically transported back to Malibu back in my "heyday" I went full out putting on some moves. Not to sound conceited, but I think I'm a sensation on Chinese YouTube tonight as I was dancing along to Gangnam even to the point of hopping on top of the table next to us. Of course the help told me to get down, but that did not remove the smiles from the faces of the locals. Of course I'm not sure of the damage I did to my kids, but at some point they need to uncover the ugly past of their Dad. They didn't seem to flinch when a group of young girls came out next dressed as airline pilots and danced.
While leaving the club we were sure to take photos of the man dressed as a pig, yes, again, it must be a China-thing. The owner of the club, "Terry", came out and introduced himself to us and was quite excited when we told him we'd be here all week. I think the G4s took dramatic steps to advance US and Chinese relations tonight. I know I'm looking forward to going back as is Amy, but I'm not sure about Celeste and Nina. Stay tuned.
AG
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