I think I've Overdosed on Music

I've gone to KTV four nights in a row now. I can't remember the last time I got a full night of sleep.

For those of you who have never been to KTV, it's karaoke. You go with some friends, and rent a private room to sing in. They have nice big screens, tambourines, and plenty of snacks. It's a blast.

But going four nights in a row is too much. Especially when you don't get back till 6 AM.

It's really taken time out of our plans for visiting things around the city.

Since I'm flying back to Xi'an tomorrow, here's another quick update before I can put some pictures on here.

Day Three and a Half: CNY Eve

The Chinese New Year is simply spectacular. In America we set off lots of little fireworks, and go see some bigger ones at shows done by professionals. It doesn't work that way here. As soon midnight hit, the streets lit up with people setting off firecrackers, sparklers, and anything else that went boom. At times I saw people place big red boxes the size of a computer case in the road and proceed to blast large rockets into the sky. For almost an hour there was a constant din of explosions and bangs. There's no way half the things we lit on fire would have been legal to blow up in the US. 

After that we went to the first KTV with a couple Chinese backpackers. That was a lot of fun. Little did I know it was the first night of many.

Day Four: Mexican Food

We spent most of the New Years day recovering from the night before, This would become a common practice for the next couple days. The only interesting event today was that we went to a nice Mexican Restaurant. More KTV followed that night. We went with a Dutch guy we met at the Hostel along with two girls from Australia. Saffron got very drunk.

Day Five: The Sichuan Opera

Once again, we spent most of the morning recovering from the previous night. That evening Saffron and I went to see the Sichuan Opera with Robert. It was more like a variety show than an opera. It started off with some instrumental music, then went to singing, comedic acting, acrobatics, and finally the famous face changing. The face changing was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen on stage. The performers come out wearing bright outfits and a mask. What's amazing though is that with a simple wave of the hand, their masks change faster than the eye can see. Sometimes they don't even move. You can see any motion at all. The mask is just different. Or gone all together. They let people take photos and videos, so I'll be sure to put small video of it up. It really has to be seen.

More KTV that night. This time Robert came as well as our friends form the previous night. Saffron got very drunk again and tried to drag us to ANOTHER KTV after the one we were at closed for the night. (Or morning since it was 5 AM.)

Day Six: Rest and Net Bars

Slept in. Got to tell Saffron about the previous night. (It's always fun being the most sober.) She promised we wouldn't go to KTV again that night and that we would just rest at the hostel. I went to the Net Bar down the street to have a bit better Internet access. When I came back to the hostel, Saffron introduced me to two Dutch girls and informed me that her earlier statement had been a complete and utter lie.

We went to KTV again that night. We decided to go to a new KTV this time, to give the people at the first one a break from us, and because this one was open 24/7. I left at about 6AM with the Dutch girls because I needed to sleep, and they had to go to see the pandas later.

Day Seven: Today

Saffron woke me up at about noon. Apparently she hadn't slept and had made a new friend when she got back to the hostel. Saffron and Helen (Our new friend for the day) were getting ready to go to a local temple, and decided that I had had enough sleep.

The temple was pretty, but was very touristy. Nothing like what I expected from a Buddhist temple. They had a vegetarian restaurant and tea house, along with a little souvenir stand by the entrance. Oh well. I guess they have to get their funding somehow. For as many people were in their walking around, it was fairly quite and peaceful. I'd like to see one of the temples in Xi'an to see how they differ.

Once I'm done writing this post, I'll be going with Saffron and Helen to see a lantern festival at a nearby park. I hear some of the lanterns are as big as a car.

We'll see how this goes.