Bill took me to his favorite noodle house where I had a delicious meal of beef fried noodles and a Yanjin beer. A large bottle of beer is $.60 so, as you can imagine westerners down a lot of beer here. The noodle shop is open 24 hours a day and is decorated with an odd collection of murals on the wall. There are caricatures of Soccer stars, followed by a very beautiful portrait of Nelson Mandela. Then as you move around the walls things get a little weird. On one wall is a pastoral scene with snow-covered mountains. A hairy yak stands in a field near a dairy cow that appears to be doing a dance move impossible for cows to do. An avatar is milking the cow and the milk is being directed into a bottle of Yanjin beer. You would think this would be enough but there’s more. A mastiff has his massive chompers around the avatar’s magical tail… ( Don’t ask me why). I am told that the artist would come in and create in the wee hours building up his masterpiece. A new artist is now working on another wall with a wolf leapfrogging over a sheep. Should be interesting.
A group of Chinese men are drinking heartily at a table in the shadow of the milking avatar. They are getting loud and Bill starts to perk up thinking that one of the legendary fights he has been telling me about may be in the works. According to Bill a brawl will sometimes start with a man breaking a beer bottle over another man’s head. Sometimes plates are also used and when a good one breaks out, people will break off a chair leg and use that. It reminded me of a scene from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when the young female character played by Zhang Ziyi destroys a multistory restaurant during a fight scene. This could be an interesting night. Bill's friend Craig disagrees though. Naw he says, they are too happy. Bill is hopeful and even encouraged when one young man ducks out and returns with a bottle of alcohol that appears to be much stronger than beer. Not long after the same young man returns with another bottle. Bill is rubbing his hands together with delight. Craig is still betting on nothing more than loud happy drunkenness.
The young man who was leading the charge for booze came over to our table to say hello and seeing we were westerners told us, after multiple apologies for interrupting us, that his girlfriend was studying in New York. Excuse…. I am a little drunk he said over and over grimacing as he searched his mind for the right English words. He was from Inner Mongolia, which I learned is an autonomous region of China. His parents had sent him to study Chinese because they thought he would do better in life if he spoke Mandarin instead of merely learning to speak his native language. He had just landed in Beijing and met his friends. In five hours he would be back on a plane to go home to see his parents. In the state he was in, that would be a tough flight. His friends were very concerned that he was bothering us and came over often to check. We assured them that we were not bothered. It is interesting to see how someone from areas controlled by China see things. Mongolians are very proud of their heritage. Craig offered that this mans parents sacrificed their heritage to offer their son a better life and he realized it. Even in his inebriated state, he offered that when he sees his parents, he is going to thank them from his bottom…”er excuse I am a little bit drunk”….of his heart. (Before ye judge his English, he speaks Mandarin, Mongolian and English and was very drunk).
When Bill and I worked together in San Diego, he had a habit of staying up all night at a restaurant talking about whatever came to him. Sometimes especially when he has had a few, he is very philosophical. There were times when I would drive him home and wished I had a voice recorder because the most amazing things would come out of his mouth. I mean really deep stuff. The man is brilliant. So it seems he is still up to his old tricks. Stay up late fall asleep at the table (which you see a lot here) wake up and offer some thoughts and back to sleep. He and Craig have a deal that if they stay up until 5AM. They have to go to McDonalds for an egg mcmuffin. The 5am time is because that is when they start serving breakfast. So off we went to find a cab in the freezing cold of the early morning and race over to Micky Ds in Beijing for a mcmuffin. Sometimes you just go with it. Sleep is going to be something I will have to work to get I think.
I bet you thought I was kidding about the mural!
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