Crazy. Fun. Lust. Caution. Cause. Artsy. Wasted.
Those are the selected few words to describe my weekend. Let me start from Friday evening.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Mike's Debut as a DJ at Alfa for their 80's Night
Of course, I was late. Fabulous people always have a graceful slash dramatic entrance. My couchsurfer, Brandon, and I arrived around 9:30 p.m. and everyone was in full mood dancing to the tunes of the '80s. I threw my arms to people I know for free hugs and customary cheek-to-cheek greetings while I left Brandon standing there. It was a good thing that he has good social skills that he managed to introduced himself to other couchsurfers. Then, I guess, after 2 minutes, I suddenly remembered that I came with a hot guy. So, I dragged and introduced him around to other beautiful nenderthals.
Mike promised to play songs especially for me and yes, he did but ONLY one. What the....? I think he told me of the reason why but I don't remember. I was so engrossed flirting with Ai's couchsurfer, David, who is soooooo freakin' delicious! Akua and I were like just salivating. Hahahahahaha....
The rest of the night was blurred to me. I was not drunk. Maki bought me a beer and someone (I forgot who) handed me a vodka. The reason of the blurness is still unclear and blur to me. ;) At nidnight, we headed home. Cinderella beauties, you say, but we have good reasons.
SATURDAY
Huanghuacheng Great Wall Climb
The hikers arrived on time at the rendezvous in Jishuitan KFC. As soon as everyone had their breakfast and had answered the morning "call of nature", everybody was set to go. Davis, the tour organizer, briefed us about the itinerary of the day while the bus was snaking through the weekend traffic. Speaking of traffic, it was soooo terrible that we were stucked in some intersection for 40 minutes or so. That means----we didn't make it to the War Tunnel because of time constraints.
When we arrived at the village, we explored around it and of course, did my usual camwhoring in bricks, old walls, dried tree branches and anywhere which caught my sense of seeing.
We had lunch there, too, in the village. The restaurant served us a really unknown (for me) but sumptuous dishes that nothing left on the table when everybody was finished.
At one, we started the tour proper. Our bus took us to the Hawk castle which is a little great wall castle built in 1592 in Ming Dynasty
that boasts to be the best preserved great wall castle. With only a
dozen family living inside, it retains a unique sense of ancientness
and tranquility. But this current tranquil mountain village was once
severely disturbed by Mongolia in the north in Ming dynasty as well as
USSR decades ago when the sino-ussr relation went sour in 1960s which
is physical evident by the Great wall and mysterious military nearby.
We stayed there for 45 minutes and then headed off to the Great Wall. It was such a lovely sunny day that is seldom seen in Beijing. The clouds were so immaculate cotton that looks like floating bubbles in a blue ocean. Picture perfect.
Perfect for camwhoring. Amen.
Enjoy the photos below.
EARTH HOUR
We arrived Beijing at 7:00 p.m. Six of us decided to have dinner first at a nearby restaurant in around Jishuitan. The Great Wall Hike was very exhausting but I have the feeling that I MUST attend Earth Hour Meeting sponsored by Greening the Beige at Club Obiwan from 8:30-9:30 p.m., the same time when hundred of cities around the world turned off their lights to make a stand for Earth. This year, Beijing is joing the rest of the world by turning off lights in their famous landmarks like the Bird's Nest, water Cube, etc... and by encouraging people and several companies to do the same.
We all know about the Earth Hour. And if you don't know about it, it's ime for you to Vote for Earth and start caring. Even a camwhore like me cares. Really. So, there are no excuses and no difference between you and me. I was really exhausted but I chose to be there because I care. Mushy. Cliche. But true. ;)
At the said celebration, an Earth Hour Quiz was held which our group won 2nd place. No prize though. :)
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.
In
2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1
billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote.
Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re
from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call
to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A
call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over
74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH
during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.
The YEN WHITE PARTY
This is my 3rd year in a row. And every year is different and even crazier than the last year. It's awesome to see people in WHITE. It felt like heaven----everybody's dead and rejoincing that they're in heaven. But the way the hedonists behaved and danced, a Shakespearean quote is more apt to describe, "Hell is empty. All the devils are here."
The crowd was unstoppable and the music was pure bliss. I had stomach in the first hour when I was there but instead of just a mere onlooker, I decided to dance my way through the night and drank more. Amazingly, the stomach pain was gone. Dance is a total panacea. Ignore the grumbling. Sweat it out and kick some ass.
And oh, my shirt says, "I'm fabulous and a FREE HUG giver!"
SATURDAY
798 Art District
I went home at 5:30 this morning and slept at 6:00. I woke up at 11:00---with only 5 hours of sleep.
I showed Brandon, 798 today and this is what we managed to do. Well, aside from feeding ourselves with artistic beauty of course.