Chapter 182

A special day today; no, not because it’s Canada Day (who gives a fuck about Canada Day?!) but rather the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the communist party. Word is whole swaths of Beijing are on lockdown and subway lines are closed, but it’s business as usual in Jinan. I woke up a bit before 8, did some yoga, then went outside to do a bit of tai chi and calisthenics, building up a nice pump. I brought some luggage to and from the car and then went to the Amazonian’s apartment. We chilled a bit, then he proposed to go have lunch in one of the new hip entertainment districts.

I rode my longboard there with the dog, it was a pleasant 30-minute ride along old familiar streets, and then made it to my destination. The place didn’t exist when I was there, and I dislike it. The buildings have a faux vintage look to them even though they were built in 2017, and I just imagine it’s put together with the goal of destroying the actual old town a block north. At least the pedestrian alleys are less cramped, less linear and less grossly insalubrious than Furong Jie, the snack food street in the old town popular with visitors and residents.

I thought I’d get a double-whammy of shurgwaydinging, as one portly security guard jumped out of his seat at my approach, on a skateboard AND accompanied by a dog. But no; he told a food delivery driver behind me he can’t drive his scooter in the pedestrian area, but let me through with a nod. My two friends arrived nearly at the same time, with their 4-month-old baby, and we went to the submarine sandwich place they were hyping to me. Might as well go for all those rare foreign options when I’m in the big city. The cheesy meatball subs were excellent, and damn cheap too. So hmmm, perhaps I shouldn’t hate on this little fake old town too much.

They had errands to run, related to the baby’s citizenship paperwork. That implied going to several different government offices, and of course they were thrilled. I kept riding, going to the Springs Square and then north to the old town. I wanted to check out some microbreweries like the massive hipster I am but they were not open yet, in this early afternoon. So I kept going, riding when I could and walking when the cobblestones were too uneven. Jinan’s old town has a raw feel to it and I have always enjoyed exploring its narrow alleys. The dog followed, his tongue hanging out of his mouth due to the heat. One of my favorite spots of the Jinan of old was a natural spring right in the middle of the old town, at the end of a maze of small alleys, where people went swimming. You’d turn the corner and be greeted by the sight of old Chinese men in small speedos drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and drying up in front of what looks like a large swimming pool carved in the rock, surrounded by old buildings and willow trees. Now it’s overrun by slimy algae and they put a big metal fence in the hole in the wall where people used to enter the pool from. I keep telling you, we just can’t have nice things.

Slightly depressed, I made it home, relaxed a bit in the AC with a German beer and then went to drink another one in the Amazonian’s courtyard. There’s a tiny fenced space behind his building, it used to be just a huge pile of garbage but he cleaned it out and turned it into a little garden, with a large hammock hanging. I read for a bit then he came to join me.

At night, the whole gang went to a Mexican restaurant that recently opened and that they had been hyping me. The Belarusian, the Amazonian, his wife and sleeping infant daughter, and a Ukrainian girl I’d never met before. The Caboverdian showed up later, though he said he wouldn’t come, as he hates the place. He is extremely racist and refuses to believe that Chinese people can make tex-mex food, pretty ironic that he is so gatekeeperish despite having zero Latino blood, but then again he is from a small island off the coast of Africa, raised in Portugal, and he LARPs as an African-American. That could be considered cultural appropriation, much more than making burritos. From what I gathered, a lot of Jinan expats severely dislike the guy and his tendency to make everything about black people this, white people that, especially among the black Americans in town. And as much as I understand how many could find him heavy and avoid social gatherings where he’s invited, he’s still my bro with whom I go way back, and it’s nice that he showed up on my last night in Jinan.

We ate a bunch of tex-mex classics, had discussions on extremely crude topics, then went home relatively early to get some rest before the long journey ahead.