Saturday Night On the Town


Last night, I was invited to attend an improv comedy show called Lean, Green, and Mean. It plays at the Obiwan club, near the Jishuitan subway stop on Line 2. From their program: "Lean, Mean, and Green (LMG) is the first-ever Reality Theatre Show (a la Reality TV Shows) which pairs up four environmentalists with four industrialists to compete for $250,000 worth of prize money! Laugh out loud as our cast of out-of-this-world characters expose topics of environmental protection and pollution in a new, fun, and enlightening manner." Environmental terrorists from Columbia, Fashion house owners, 74-yr old Jewish grandmothers...who knew exploring environmentalism could be so funny!?! Visit China Green Beat for more on environmentalism in Beijing.

After the show, I hung out with the cast, and we ordered some food and drinks there at the Obiwan. One of the cast members' friends is a singer from San Francisco named Brie. Apparently, she got involved in a rock band that performs on CCTV (Chinese television) and became a little famous here when the band performed a song for the recent Earthquake. Lyrics from their song have ended up on bumper stickers all around the city. She told me about how she has been making a living in Beijing teaching voice lessons and picking up singing gigs. She even started an a cappella chorus. 


When we left The Obiwan, we journeyed to another bar, name unknown, near the Drum Tower, and danced to the sounds of SambAsia, a Beijing-based Samba ensemble. It was about a hundred degrees in there, and within minutes, we were all soaked with sweat, but what a great time!



Salud, our next stop, is a small tapas bar specializing in flavored rum. We chatted with more expats and hung out for a little while, until we all agreed that we needed some food. One of the show's cast member's directed us to a little noodle shop in the area, where we were served their specialty, which sounds something like "Bien Bien Myen." Apparently the Chinese character for this rare noodle dish has 52 strokes! (25 strokes is a very complex character.) The noodles were about 3 inches wide and 15 inches long, cooked in a little oil and an incredible blend of spices. As the menu was only in Chinese, this is definitely something I couldn't have discovered on my own. Hanging out with an Australian, an American, a Belgian, a Sri-Lankan, and a few other people certainly helped me experience a less-touristy piece of Beijing last night!

Comments

Ethan said…
sounds like you guys are having a blast. Every post makes me want to come over there even more.
June 16, 2008 at 10:25 AM
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