Blobbing

Taking it easy today. Both feeling a bit knackered, so recharging. Tomorrow we're going to see pandas. Tonight we're going to have Sichuan hotpot for dinner, so also psyching myself up for that. Meant to be some of the spiciest food available. Looks like we'll be here until Wednesday. Nice to be in one spot a bit longer.

Chengdu ' Gigs '

Last night we made it to an area further on the outskirts of town, to attempt to see some live music. We didnt arrive until about 9.30 and the bands were already finished. Looked like they were a Rock n Roll or Rockabilly outfit. Double bass and quiff hairstyles. Nevertheless we stuck around for a few beers and ended up talking for sometime to a couple of young local guys. The conversation was wide and varied despite the fact that their English was only a bit better than our Chinese. Turned out they were both art tutors at the Chengdu university. One was a fine artist, and the other a comic book artist and traditional animator. As such between us we managed to communicate with a mixture of broken english and Chinese, pictograms and written text. Was alot of fun, and we managed to discuss the music and art scene in Chengdu and the rest of China, their opinion on freedom or lack of in China, some international affairs, their own personal music tastes, 1989 as a turning point in China, 1 child policy - and how some families have 2 or 3 children depending on how well off they are, the earthquake earlier in the year, and the fact that their is still alot of poverty in China despite the amount of money that is also here. The bar itself was very nicely setup - some great art around the walls, lots of local magazines and some good music playing. 

Chengdu 01 - shopping around, pop stars from tgoodwin on Vimeo.

After saying goodbye to the guys we headed in a taxi to another bar a km or so away. We were expecting quite a different thing here, but the difference exceeded our expectations. Turned out there was some sort of Chinese Idol type thing going on here. Young local women were singing on the stage and dressed up in their best outfits and doing the whole Chinese pop star thing. A couple of them were bloody good singers. The whole thing was hosted by two enigmatic but cheesy MCs who took delight in including the only foreigners in the bar (Em and I) in the proceedings, and also including a few random english words for our benefit amoungst the announcements. "Hello" , "Thankyou", "Beautiful" . They sat with us at one point and introductions took place. Anytime they walked past from then on they'd shout at me "Jerry!, Hello!" in thick Chinese accent. Was a hilarious time. Some glamourous looking youngsters sitting at the front befriended us and we were obligated to join in the sparkler waving glorious pop singalongs.