Jan 28

We went for a peticab tour around the Houhai Lake alleys today!!! A peticab is a bicycle with a covered seat attached to it, for two people to sit in. It was funny seeing over a dozen peticabs carting all these American students through the small back alleys of Houhai. Lots of pictures were being taken by locals. I felt like a traveling circus, but it was really fun. I wish it could have lasted longer.

We then got to meet a women who lived in a house in one of the alleys behind Houhai. Her home is actually pretty expensive now, but it's owned by her family and is thus passed through her family over the years. She had lots of tiny stuffed animal koalas from Australia hanging on a string in her living room. I wondered where she got all the stools from, that we were sitting on. There were literally about 20 stools in her living room for us. She talked about her life and how her daughter is still unmarried and how her and her husband raise prize pigeons. Interesting.
Then, we went to the Drum Tower. It had such steep steps, I could hardly believe it! However, the view was really nice and we got to see a classic drum performance, with the players swinging their arms in full circles as they beat against the drums that hung like big, vertical circles.
The night was filled with some confusion and frustration and fun. Here's a quick recap:

1. The bartenders at the first bar were mean and said they served free drinks for girls until 12 when we called the bar, but when we got there they said it's only until 11. Then, Fii and I ordered before 11, but the guy waited for 20 minutes and only got the guys their drinks, so that by the time we finally demanded our drinks, he said we would then have to pay for them because technically then it was past 11. It was so irritating.

2. We wanted to go to Mix, but it had a cover charge of 30 kuai, which was enough to make some people opt for going home while others lingered by the door debating. Eventually, some more people decided to come in and dance.

3. We go to a little sports store (which the boys have dubbed "the sports bar") for some non-overpriced water. Funny how at Mix, a small bottle is at least 30 kuai, while at the little store across the street it is only 3 kuai for a normal sized bottle. It was like the UN in there. There was me, Kyle, Andy, and Jon from the US. Fii from Hong Kong. Two girls from Norway. A guy from Nigeria, and one from a place called Dominico, I believe. Or Dominica? I don't know. Anyways, we were all crowded in this small random sporting goods store that happened to be open until 4am. Among some of the random things it sold: goggles, lollipops, Absolut vodka special edition in a bottle that looked like a disco ball, water, prune juice, oreos both with chocolate and vanilla cream, nunchucks, winter coats, express tea makers, racquetball rackets, instant flavored milktea, running shoes, and, to top it off, a unicycle. Yes, a unicycle.

We of course had a late night stop at McDonald's where Kyle enjoyed more than a lifetime's worth of sweet and sour sauce, much to our chagrin. A late night video of the Amy and Andy show ended at about 4:30am. Luckily we have no class tomorrow.