The Wandering Monkey

Shanghai- Beijing Lindy Exchange
(from written notes on plane)
It is Sunday morning. I am in the Beijing Airport. This weekend was spent in Beijing. Eight of us came by train to a dance party with the Beijing Swing Dancers.
The ride up was exciting in the beginning. We left as a group Friday, 7pm. We had seats all together, and soon found our way up to the retaurant car for some drunken carousing. The train to Beijing is very modern and spacious. Seats are like airline chairs, and doors between cards open automatically at the touch of a sensor pad. The train itself is also very long. It took us ten minutes to walk the length of it.
Once at the dining car, we became the typical rowdy foreigners. The men had several rounds of beeer and began a philosophical debate on the evolutionary successes of human cultures; was a culture's success a factor of opportunity, genertic differences, or the personality of the culture itself? It was nice to have an intelligent talk in English. Then Mr. Bean came on the TV and we all laughed our heads off. All the Chinese in the car saw us and they started watching, too.

The train was constantly vibrating, and our beer bottles persistently crept towards the edge of the table. Finally, one fell off and sprayed David in the pants. He jumped up and quickly grabbed some napkins from the bar girl. I pointed to his wet pants and said to her, "Ta bu zhi dao zai nali ce suo." The girl wanted to laugh. You could see it. She struggled not to. She squished her lips together and held tight her jaw and squirmed. (I'd just told her, he does not know where the bathroom is.)

I received a phone text message about 11pm: "Hey! Where's the party at?" It was someone I'd met on the movie, probably texting everyone he knew, fishing for a party. So I decided to play a little prank. I texted back:
"I'm at the ELLE China model tryouts. Woo Hoo!"
We all laughed about this, then moments later David joins in and texts to him:
"You gotta get here! The girls are asking for you!"
Very soon after I receive another text message: "Where" He's bought it!
We're all drunk by now and this is just bloody hillarious. So I ask my friend Orchid to send me a message in Chinese characters giving some really bogus directions. She sends me, in Chinese: "Go to the Lian Hua Supermaket. Turn left and go three blocks. Enter a big red door and ask for Sally"
Of course, there are 1000 Lian Hua supermarkets. These are completely useless instructions. Within minutes we receive a call:
"Hey, I'm in a cab right now and the driver cannot figure out your directions. Can you give the phone to someone who can tell the driver how to get there?"
I motion to everyone to make noise, as if we were at a party. "Hey man, I can't talk now. The girls are taking their clothes off!!!"
The harried voice on the other line returns: "Where are you? Where are you!?"
We could have lead this guy all around the city by telling the driver to go to different places. But then I decide it's time to let the cat out of the bad. "You've been had! We're not at a party, we're on the train with the swing dancers going to Beijing.!"

This was all good fun, but about midnight we're thinking of heading back to the seats for some rest. Damn uncomfortable! I tried every conceivable position. Eventually I just picked the one which was least uncomfortable. But there was no sleep. 2am, I looked around and everyone else was also not sleeping, also looking around. 3am. 4am. Train arrives at 7:30. Sheesh.

Tired, grumpy, and uncomfortable we roll out of the train into the cold Beijing morning. But regardless, Kellian and I do a quick swing dance outside on the smooth cement to innagurate the occasion. We have breakfast across the street from the train station. Then we try to reach our friend who has the apartment in town. He's not answering his phone. Neither is his brother. Nor is the girl from Shanghai who's already at the apartment. We can't reach anyone from Beijing, either. It's 8am and everyone would rather be sleeping. But we're sitting out here, in the cold, no where to go, no one to talk to. Who knows how long we'll be at this train station! This trip is looking like a dud. We finally arrive at the apartment and wake up the sleeper by banging on the door. We're all grumpy and unhappy at our reception. But we get some rest and trudge along.

At 7pm we meet up with the Beijing dancers for dinner, and things are looking better. The food is really good. We go to this Hong Kong restaurant. Adam and River and the commanders of Beijing. Usually it's me, in Shanghai. So it's interesting to see someone else leading the mob.
Dance begins at 9pm, and it's pretty cool. It's so nice to be dancing with some new blood. A couple from Tasmania is here as well. My energy is up, my excitement up, and I'm doing every single dance.
We take a breatk to talk to the media which is covering the event. City Weekend is here. They are a free bi-monthly English language magazine. They want to put us on the front cover of their next issue! And this is national, too. The same publication prints in Beijing and Shanghai, maybe a few other places as well. This is probably the single most important coverage we've ever had. Everyone reads City Weekend, or at least looks at the front cover.
The photographer asks us to strike different poses. We take shots of the Beijing dandcers, the Shanghai dancers, and one of us all in a "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" pose.
The night goes on past midnight, and my energy is drained! We're off to a late dinner where we socialize a bit and talk of swing in China, life in general.

2am and I'm back at Adam's apartment. He's giving me some of his swing music, which is good because you can't get it out here. 3am sleep.
8am wake. I've overslept. Shower. OJ. Taxi to airport in a hurry! And now I'm sitting on a wide-body China Air flight to Shanghai. We'll be landing in about 90 minutes.
Beats 12 hours on the train!
-J