Chapter 114

I slept in, and leisurely made my way through the city on a rent-a-bike. When I decided I’d go to Shanghai for the weekend, I told myself I’d make the most out of the trip, and try to do something semi-productive during the daytime, between the two rock concerts that brought me there. I asked some of my jiu-jitsu pals if they know the contact info for Shanghai gyms and got in touch with one, they invited me to their class at noon. I found the office space on the 15^th floor of a tower in the Jing’An district, all padded up and turned into a tiny gym, in fact I wasn’t even sure I was in the right place, it was just an unmarked door, I gingerly knocked and opened, there was a white dude and a Chinese girl entangled in leg locks. The girl said “Oh it’s you?! The guy who sent me a message? I thought you were a Chinese person!” That confusion is pretty common, my WeChat profile picture is not my face, and I only talked to her in Chinese.

The American instructor welcomed me, and soon after the others came and class started. It was no-gi, not what I’m used to as we train mostly with the gi back home, but it was all useful stuff about guard passing from knee cut or straight hamstring positions. The class was given in Chinese, which the American guy spoke quite well, funnily enough the Chinese guys were fine with English but there was a Russian dude who speaks much better Chinese than English so the language was catered to him!

We had a few rolls, and there was no wiping the smile on my face. Holy shit BJJ is fun. Nogi is a different game and I still had the habit of going to grab my own belt in defense and without the grips, I had to adjust, but I did OK I guess.

I walked a few blocks to a French rôtisserie and had half a roast chicken with broccoli on the side and a strong Belgian beer called Paix Dieu. Then I went to one of the hundreds of imported stores in the French Concession and filled my backpack with beer and goodies, and rode back to the hotel where I took a shower and sat in my bunk doing practice driving exams. I was scheduled for the exam the next day, and still needed to review.

I eventually fell asleep, and woke up in a half-coma. It was raining slightly, but I rode a rent-a-bike anyway. I stopped at a pizza place to get slices, I had the Hawaiian and the pizza of the day, an Indonesian-inspired one with marinated spicy chicken, peanuts and raw onions, interesting stuff. The Brazilian restaurant from last week was just next door, so I also went to get some pão de queijo to go, for the girlfriend.

I got to the same venue I went to yesterday, in time for the first set, by a duet called Shift Ctrl. A burly Russian played the bass, with a British drummer, the guitar track was recorded. Not sure if it’s because their guitarist couldn’t make it or if it’s pre-recorded by themselves, but for sure something was missing to the live performance, and also it was all instrumental until the last track, when a skinny Chinese dude joined them. Still, a pretty good show, some good heavy and groovy rock n’ roll.

They were followed by a four-piece with the cool name of Hey Lily!, and then Theory Of Convergence, both solid rock bands with energetic female singers. The last band was one I was very familiar with, The White Monkeys, from the central Chinese city of Hefei where I lived for two years. The band was on hiatus for a bit due to half the members leaving China, but the British frontman and the Italian drummer recruited some new guys. One is from Brasilia, so we sat drinking beer and chatting in Portuguese (my favorite foreign language) together, I gave him one pão de queijo and abstained from eating one myself, if I eat one I’ll eat two, then three, then I’ll finish the whole damn thing. The other guitarist is a fellow Quebecer, and from my hometown, no less. Small world!

The Monkeys gave a pretty good show, their first in 15 months, in front of a spread-out audience. It would have been better if they were in the line-up before Theory of Convergence, I never understand why the promoters sometimes put a band after the headliner, unless it’s a big festival. Still, good stuff, I sang along their classics and tapped my feet to their cover of Folsom Prison Blues.

Their frontman, Richie, even gave me a vinyl copy of their full-length album. What an awesome gift! Too bad I don’t have anything to play vinyls. I stuck around for a bit, chatting with the guys, but left early, as I had to wake up at 6:30 the next day. I made it to my bunk a bit before 1 and crashed.