Mexican Food!

Cathy Lee's birthday is the best time of year (so far) in China. It's mostly because it includes going to Beijing for the best time of my life!!!

The girls and I took a train Saturday afternoon to Beijing. We also took two bottles of wine with us to make the trip more enjoyable. Before we got on the train we also met Jabba the Hut in our waiting room. Swear to you, he sounded like Jabba. I was afraid he'd kidnap me and put me in a gold bikini. Upon arrival at our hostel we called Brandon who was having Dairy Queen with Aubrey across the street. We got dressed, clapped excitedly (but not too excitedly for fear of utter disappointment) and got into a cab headed for a restaurant called the Mexican Wave. (side note, the Mexican Wave is also called heaven in some parts of the world)

We come to find the place filled to the brim with foreigners. It is owned by an American woman who, God bless her, had decorated for Halloween. Mexican decor AND Halloween! AH! First we order a pitcher of margaritas. We continue to hold our breaths as the last time margaritas were ordered in China they were the size of a tea cup. Huge gasp, as tears came to my eyes upon seeing a huge pitcher filled with enough margarita to give each of us at least 1 and a half, if not two, full, American sized margaritas. I then ordered a chicken taco. Other orders around the table included burritos, nachos and more tacos. More tears were shed as I unrolled my fork and knife from a napkin and took a bite of Aubrey's rice. It was not white. It was not sticky. It did not need soy sauce. Then I almost needed to excuse myself when I bit into my taco. This was real chicken. Not weirdo grisly bits dipped in plum sauce, but shredded strips from parts of the chicken I could probably name... like breast, or thigh, or leg... AND I GOT FRESH SALSA! It was almost too much...

After another pitcher of margaritas and getting the live musician to sing Cathy Lee happy birthday, we moved on to the strip of bars down the street. The good times rolled as we played cards and listened to Nelly and Snoop Dogg. The second bar we visited was a winner because they were giving out free kamikazi shots outside, promising free drinks inside. A promise they surely kept. No one was on the dance floor, so we fixed that with a little "Call on Me" request to the DJ (that was for you Sinnott, I pretended you were there... Drew too, it was like we were in Boys Town).

No more free drinks meant we had to move on to another bar, but before we walked down the street I expertly got us another round of free shots. Then to Bar Blu. Awesome place. Good music. Good people. Good drinks. Some Chinese girls tried to have a dance off with me but they lost, pitifully. Then they tried to take over our space on the dance floor and Cathy Lee and I shooed them away with our awesome American booties. Andrea and Aubrey went mingling around the bar and found some businessmen who bought us tequila shots... we danced, we drank, we partied ourselves silly and went home around 4am.

Sunday we were all pooped but Starbucks was just around the corner (also a lovely treat because we don't have Starbucks in our little mountain village of Chengde). We went to WanFuJing Street to do some shopping but our hearts weren't in it so we went back home early. Now, after my little description of the "death bus" we took to Beijing the first time, you'd think that traveling in China couldn't get any worse... but it can. You see, our only train option was to get a standing "seat", meaning we'd stand on the train for 5 hours... hahaha ohhhhh... so we took the death bus home. It wasn't as bad this time because the tv worked and they played two Chinese movies (Kung Fu Hustle and something else) and I slept. It only took us 3 and a half hours to get home. I was happy.

Good weekend.