The Sojourner

Sort of Pride Parade at the Great Wall of China

It's been a year this month since three fabulous indviduals joined forces and sashayed down their asses at the Great Wall of China, replete with feather boas and rainbow fan and incomparable fab poses that only devoted to the hearts of the pleasing men.

The video below shows the UNOFFICIAL first ever Pride Parade at the Great Wall of China!

Viva Espana! Viva Portugal! Viva Las Islas Filipinas!

Have fun watching our homemade video of faggotry and smile to your hearts' content!

The Sanlitun Fights

Last Saturday, some friends and I went for a pizza at Nearby the Tree in Sanlitun.

After devouring the pizzas, we headed off to the Sanlitun backstreet / alleys where most alcoholic beverages are priced at 10 kuai.

It's dirt cheap. At least, for me. :))

The last I actually sat there was like...eons ago and I don't even remember who I was with.

So, sitting there on a Saturday night was perfect as I didn't have to work the next day. I have already said goodbye to weekend classes not long ago but there's a possibility that I'll be doing it again in the future.

But, for now, I'm enjoying my summer nights so far---spending my time away with fellow hedonists while in search for the true meaning of life.
Duh!

We got an outdoor table right at the doorstep of Fish and Nation. The crowd were mostly international students who value nothing but cheap drinks.

We ordered beer, of course. Cold ones---perfect for the summer heat!

After having two bottles of Tsingtao beer, there's this Chinese guy sitting in front of us---alone. He doesn't speak English but he tried hard to be understood and we tried to understand him.

It was a good thing that one of us was Chinese and he did a lot of translations.

But, then, alcohol does wonders.

The Chinese guy bought us each a bottle of beer to the surprise of everybody.

And it didn't stop there. The beer continued flowing and coming until I lost count of how many exactly he gave us.

There were eleven of us and though beers are cheap but, still, it must have cost him a fortune.

He enjoyed our crazy, loud and noisy company.

Sanlitun Fights from wideye shut on Vimeo.

Then, there were fights.

We arrived there at 11:30 p.m. and went home 5:30 a.m., the next day.

Within 6 hours of flattening our ass on the chair, I counted FIVE fights---from verbal altercations to hard punches to violent slash nasty one that the battered guy literally drenched in blood.

Sorry to disappoint you, but, no, nobody's left breathless.

This is not my first time to see bloody fights in this same place. I had seen 4 before and now it summed up to 9.

And all these fights---involved drunk Chinese guys whose friends won't break the conflict but join the agog.

This back alley is very notorious not just for drug dealers but also for pound for pound knockout and bottle to bottle scuffle.


FIGHT RECORDS THAT NIGHT
See the order of fights in the video above.

Fight #1: Verbal diarrhea and minor punches. I wasn't able to record it. It was too short-lived. I was quiet disappointed. ;)

Fight #2: Misunderstanding. Waiters were able to break it fast. Good job. 

ADVERTISEMENT: Some fellow couchsurfers did some kinda... I dunno... bullshit? Hahahahaha..

Fight #3: Hard punches. Group of friends destroyed a guy whose friends are nowhere. Caucasian woman was accidentally hurt.

Fight #4: Some punches.

Fight #5: The nastiest was the finale of the morning. It started with these two guys shouting and two girls were trying to break the fight but convincing the shirtless, their friend, to fuck off but he was too drunk and maybe, didn't want to lose face in front of the foreign crowd, so he continued to throw verbal abuse to the other guy who was very passive and didn't even throw back punches.

When the two girls were helpless, they ran away and called three other friends of theirs and that's when the throwing and breaking of empty Tsingtao beers started.

I was literally 3 meters away when the first bottled was poked at the guy's head and I still could hear the breaking sound until now.

I was soooooo scared that I ran as far as I could.

The last part of the video was not the last sound I heard.

I was too frightened that I accidentally turned off the camera.

Drunk. Scared. Back alleys. Ten-kuai bars. Tsingtao beers.

That spells EXTREME FUN! :))

Travel Bar

I received an email from someone in Radio Beijing less than an hour ago.

I'll, for sure, pimp couchsurfing.

Read the email below verbatim:


Hi Alain,  

Thank you for being the guest of my live show "Travel Bar".

Please come to the studio on Tuesday (Jul 21) evening 7:30 pm, ok?

Our programme is from 8-9pm.  

The address is Radio Beijing Corp. at ----------------.

If you are pleased to join the live show, would you mind to bring some photos of the  destination, such as your hometown or anywhere you travelled, and we will introduce them in the programme, also you can bring some interesting items of there, such as costumes or anything else? 

Our programme is an online audio as well as video show.  

Thank you.  

R-----


So, to all my fans in Beijing, tune up to 774 AM , this TUESDAY, 8:00 - 9:00 P.M. or log on to www.netfm.com.cn and I'll mesmerize (or bore) you with my flamboyancy!

Hahahahaha...

Busy weeknights

I have no decent sleep this week. I've been going out since Monday night when my Greek, delicious couchsurfer arrived.

We've been out every night. Literally.

I had an average of 3 hours of sleep for the last three days and on Thursday and Friday, I had less than 3 hours. I just can't sleep well enough when the sun is already up.

Monday and Tuesday, we went to Destination, the only gay bar in the capital of this huge country. We left home at 3:30 a.m.

That gay bar is dead on week nights.

Then, on Wednesday, we went out for a drink in an Italian restaurant with two other fabulous creatures. I went home at 1:00 a.m but went to sleep at 4 a.m. My insomnia struck me again. 

Then, Thursday, we went for dinner at 1001 Nights for mid-eastern food. Food was just okay and the two belly dancers on duty that night were extremely opposite: heavy and thin.

After two bottles of white wine and nice conversations, mostly about being fab, we decided to check out the Gayographic-sponsored gay night at Lantung.

And yes, hordes of fantabulous people came in and flirted with each other. It's one of those night that nobody would go home alone.

But NOT in our case though. Hahahahaha.

Everybody was literally drunk.

Wasted.

Destroyed.

And, again, I don't really remember much of what happened that night.

But there was a funny thing that happened on our way to Lantung.

We asked this girl to take us a photo and when she was about to click shutter, she said in a loud, proud volume... "Smell..."

Everyone cracked up and it was non-stop.

It was the amazing gift of the whole night. Hahahahahaha....

Last night, Friday, a couple of Couchsurfers went to Alfa for the love of 80's music and for the love of DJ Mike.

I was fabulous late when I came but was glad that my fans were all still there waiting for me. Hahahahahaha...

Then, a DJ played Michael Jackson's, "Billie Jean," and everyone went crazy, stomping their happy feet like wild psychos lost in a mad crowd.

Nobody was left on the sofa. It was like everybody just got up to honor the music and the late MJ.

This is the only thing I remember that night---thanks to the video. :))

80's at Alfa from wideye shut on Vimeo.

At 3 a.m., a Spanish fab friend and I went to MIX Club where spoiled Chinese brats go for hiphop / pop trash.

We met my biatch there and I reckon we danced so hard.

The only thing I remember at Mix was that the guard refused me to go the ledge where I can show my dancing prowess to the world.

He said, the ledge is ONLY for LADIES.

What the fuck!

So, they tolerate those ladies dancing up there like hot lesbians making out in public?

My dear les friends, go down Mix and show your grooves. Let's see how far they'd censor your spicy moves.

I went out from that super crowded club (with a lot of smelly armpits!) around 4:30 a.m. Darkness was already thinning when someone called me and asked where I was.

He said he was nearby. So, we went for a nice morning coffee and I finally rested in my bed (alone) at 7:00 a.m.

Then forty-five minutes later, a call woke me up. My next couchsurfer was already waiting outside.

He has been calling my phone five times and pressing my doorbell but I was so dead to the world.

I welcomed him with sleepy eyes and tired body and I went back to sleep.

He, too, comfortably lied on the couch to get more sleep.

And we both shut our eyes...and dreamt of a good morning nap. :))



 

 

My French TV Debut

I will be appearing on FRENCH TV 2 this Thursday, July 16.


In France, of course. :))


It will be on 21h local time, via the program called Envoye Special!

 

To all my fans outhere, please watch the show if you happen to be in France.


Though it's just 3-4 minutes of fame, I'm proud of my first ever appearance in Europe.


Here's a spiller for you.

My French TV Debut from wideye shut on Vimeo.

France TV 2 made a documentary about Couchsurfing by following Laurent Pichot, who I hosted in Beijing on July 3-9.

This is not my first time on TV.

I appeared in CCTV-9 last year and Shenyang TV in 2005 for short interviews but this Frenchy thingy is different.


If you are not in France, spread the word and the Couchsurfing Spirit!!


I don't even know how many seconds I'd be there, but, heck, it doesn't really matter.

I'm famous now.


Hahahahaha...

Photo of the Day: His Majesty

Found this guy comfortably sitting on his three-wheeled transport while making a call.

And while puffing a cigarette, too.

2009 Great Wall Beach Party

It's my fourth time in a row.

The first Great Wall Party was in Jinshanling Great Wall. We were literally dancing on the steps of the newly-renovated Great Wall back in 2005!

YEN, the ultimate party master, organized the event.

And they called it: YEN ON THE WALL!

A day after that first Great Wall debauchery, a lot of of Chinese media portrayed that event as "bastardizing the national symbol." Internet forums were full of angry netizens calling the laowais as disrecpectful.

And not only that, an English newspaper published a picture of a foreign guy proudly urinating on the Wall on a beautiful Sunday morning. 

And worst of all, the Great Wall was littered with all sorts of trash, including used condoms. :)

I should know.

On the night of that partay, we (J and I) heared voices when we went up looking for our spot in the dark corner of the Wall. Hahahaha!!!

It was history. That was the first and the last one of its kind!

And I'm proud I was there!

FIRST GREAT WALL BEACH PARTY

Two years later, the Great Wall Beach Party came into existence in Shanhaiguan.

This is the part where the Geat Wall begins. They also call it as the "Old Dragon's Head."

And yes, this is is also the ONLY part of the grand monument which extends to the sea.  

I was there on it's first but lost my camera. Being a cam whore, losing a camera is HUGEEEE deal.

As much as I want to enjoy, my mood was already ruined. And the rest of the night was just blurred to me.

This was the partay that I promised NOT to touch Long Island Iced Tea again.

Nevah. Ever.


SECOND GREAT WALL BEACH PARTY

Though it rained in the early hours of the morning, that was actually the BEST part of the party. It was super fun. Nobody can stop the crazy crowd as they wet themselves through the raging rain.

It was literally raining MEN! And boy, I forgot feeding my grumbling stomach seeing all the wild boys in front of me!

The huge crowd was uncontrollable even the party organizer decided to stop the music for a while for fear of electrocution and damage to their equipment.

The crowd went on singing whatever comes to their drunken mind, including the "Yellow Submarine."

Thrity minutes later, the party was back and the party animals just can't get enough. The crazy, infectious vibe continued 'till the morning sun showed up and 'till the DJ played his last piece.

THIRD GREAT WALL BEACH PARTY (2009)

Last Saturday, while America was celebrating its Independence Day (July 4), sixteen of us happily took over the bus back seats and made sure that our stuff (read: alcohol) were within our reach so we could be ourselves and party ahead. 

As soon as the bus started its engine, the noise barrage began.

And the drinking spree, too.

When I say drinking spree, I mean alcohol.

When I say alcohol, I mean liquor that would shatter your world and cause death to your brain cells.

Ok, not all.

Someone opened a Breezer as starter but ended up with a strong Chinese wine (whatever's the name).

I had half bottle of a Chilean white wine which I gulped down with class and style. Duh.

I tried other drinks, too, but who knows the name. I just swallowed whatever was passed on to me. 

For Four hours and a half and I couldn't remember we had a moment of silence. For sure, the other passengers were pissed off, some were just chatting mundane things, few were eavesdropping to our loud conversations (with matching secret photographing) and a few were on their MP3.

It was fun when everybody talked in different languages and all laugh at the same time without knowing what the joke was.

That's the beauty of intoxicants. All's fair. And it makes wonders.

In vino veritas, as they say. 

I was trying to fall asleep on the first hour of the trip and behaved prim and proper.

But,  how could I slumber when everybody's vocal aperture were as loud as an armalite in war?

So, I decided to join the agog and conducted the singing of America's National Anthem to boost America's ego to imperialism. Hahahahahahaha....  

Ok, I didn't conduct, I just said, "Allelujah" at the end. :))

It was amazing how the non-Americans sing the anthem with feelings, pride and finesse. The drunk voice added to the appeal of the meaning of the song.

That was, perhaps, the main higlight of the bus ride.

Our bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for our bathroom break. Literally, everyone went out for the bathroom with a side trip to a grocery store nearby.

Everybody was looking for the booze but ONLY ONE got the last Tsingtao beer can in the refrigerator.

And that lucky one was Anatole.

It's no surprise though. He's French. Hahahahaha...

The others were just contented with softdrinks and coffee / latte in cans. But, it didn't mean we suffered from alcohol-anemia.

No. No way.

More bottles were actually opened when we got back into the bus and paper cups were passed on again.

Then, our little partay continued.

Until..... some boys and girls hit bottom---controlling their urge to pee.

They asked the driver to stop the bus somewhere but their requests fell into deaf ears.

Thanks God for empty bottles. They served its purpose. :((

And the roar of laughters were unstoppable.

Good job, boys!

Thirty minutes to the party venue, the bus driver decided to finally stop to accommodate everyone in control of their ordure.

They skillfully hide on the green bushes and when they emerged, they were like soldiers who just won the battle.

Few minutes later, we saw the beach from afar and the excitement surged high up to heaven's door.

Everyone came out of the bus drunk but with such poise and energy.

We exactly arrived at 7:00 pm and the loud music was already blasting in full force.

Awesome.

After cam whoring and getting our feet used to the sand, we entered the party venue at 8:00 p.m.

WE WERE the first people who frolicked like nobody's watching. It felt so free to be dancing in a huge sandy beach with no others to bump around. We literally flew our arms and legs into the air.

And yes, I did my signature monkey dance.

Again. Yes, again! :))

Then, a slender figure came up to me and asked if I were Alain.

Without battling an eyelash, I said, "Yes, dahling!"

She's a fan. Hi, Jocelyn! :)




As the night turned deep dark and the people started to show up drunk, the level of excitement is also swelling.

Then, languidly, boys and girls started to show some flesh to feel the vibe and essence of the debauchery in the beach.

Ah, my world stopped everytime my eyes caught a hot stuff cavorting with the music and oblivious to my stares.

I didn't seem to run out of drink that night.

Someone must have passed me a glass everytime I need a refill. I reckon, they're from my students. The said they have never seen me drunk and they want to see me wasted.

And I didn't fail them.

I showed them how to party like an animal, as opposed to KTV gatherings, which is, for them, synonymous to fun-filled party.

Before they went home at 2:00 a.m., they asked me when is the next party like this. They couldn't believe how many Caucasians showed and to their words, "It's our first time to see so many white people and dancing among them. It's fabulous!"

Aha! They're using the word fabulous I taught them!

Halfway to the party, my friends were gone until I found them at the edge of the Great Wall---night swimming.

Or rather camwhoring. They just got themselves wet so they could take pictures of themselves in their skimpy bikini.

And they raped me---by making me wet.

Literally. 

Great Wall Beach Party 2009 from wideye shut on Vimeo.

Then, there's the story of a gin (or was it vodka?). Somebody stole it from somewhere successfully and whoever you are, hats off to you, dahlin'!

You deserve a blow job. A good one. Hahahahahahaha!!!

We all went back to where the party was and there I found a familiar face.

He came up to me and we chatted a bit.

Danced a bit.

Drank a bit.

Stared a bit.

Held hands a bit.

And we decided to go out---away from the madding crowd.

And the rest was history, as they say.

When we went back, the second batch of buses already came and the crowd was getting wilder, crazier and noisier.

Then, rain came but the crowd was unmoved. It was just a drizzle for a couple of minutes. It was not enough to get us wet.

As the partay progressed, my level of sanity went down.

To hide my drunkeness, I danced, hopped with fellow couchsurfers until my fragile body can't it anymore.

I just went blank and rested on the sand.

Slept a bit for 30 minutes and was awoken by the sound of drunk people passing me.

It was already 3:30 a.m., so I decided to call it "quit."

I looked for my couchsurfer and dragged him to the bus parking lot.

We need to be in Beijing early because we still have a shooting to finish with the French TV on that day.

At 4:15 a.m., our bus left Shanhaiguan and the people were still there dancing in an early daylight.

The bus was sooooo quiet as if to mourn the loss of Michael Jackson.

We were all dead tired and dead to the world.

Four hours later, Beijing welcomed us with a real gray morning sky.

No surprise, of course.

This might be my last Great Wall party ever and my next summers will never be the same without this rave.

On the Couch

A friend slash couchsurfer I met back in Winter last year sent me an email with a good news: her book, ON THE COUCH is now available for purchase online via amazon.

Of course, in the bookstores, too.

And why wouldn't she tell me? I'm there in it spewing some words of, what else but....

If you know me that well, you can literally finish the sentence above. :)

Ok, I'm using a pseudonymn. :)


Clue: Though she wore the Wig, but certainly it's NOT about it! :))

====================

Here's the description about the book and the author. 

Couchsurfing? Surely a sofa would sink on the open sea?

Couchsurfing is a global community of over a million people in 232 countries that offers couches, beds and body-sized horizontal surfaces via the internet for fellow members to bunk down on for the night. Couchsurfing is everywhere, from Kazakhstan, where there are124 empty couches for the daring traveller, to Antartica where 30 cold couches are available. It's free, it's friendly and it's the new way to travel.

Fleur Britten, Sunday Times features writer is about to lose her couchsurfing virginity. Starting out in Moscow and taking the Trans-Siberian Railway with a couple of stops in Siberia and Ulan Ude, she'll then fly to Beijing and travel through China, crossing into Kazakhstan, followed by Ubekistan.

Finding couches in the unlikeliest of places finally arriving back in London to play host to other couchsurfers. With the promise of 'couch available' rarely entailing a couch alone, with stories of meals, unofficial local tours and a family-like welcome, she will explore the unique couchsurfing community and so-called 'couchsurfing spirit'. 

What motivates people to invite strangers to sleep on their sofas? How is it possible to couchsurf and stay safe and what is it that is it that has made couchsurfing such a phenomenon? This is an adventure of kindness that will lead Fleur to meet the most unusual people and visit the most unexpected places.

Combined with revealing, candid images this promises to be much, much more than your average travelogue.

BUY NOW and let me know what you think! :)

Free Hugs from UCLA

My FREE HUG entry last month is the top three most-viewed entry in this everything-goes blog.

A fellow couchsurfer and free hugger, Eileen, sent me the photos during their FREE HUG campaign in sunny Cali.

From the bottom of my hypothalamus, PINK BIG THANKS and PINK HUGS to all of you FABULOUS people who believe that "Sometimes, a hug is all that we need."

But, you forgot one thing though.

Ask Eileen. :)

Eileen, I know that smile. That's exactly the feeling when you are surrounded with delicious men. :))

June 2009 Wiggers

These are the individuals who are elevated to
The Throne of Fabuloushness.

As of date, there are 169 wiggers in 45 countries!