Chapter 185

I woke up at 7 with my alarm, hungover, dehydrated and sverely sleep deprived. The Venezuelan left even earlier to get his Nanjing-bound train, I packed my sweaty clothes and got in the car. I drove about 20 minutes to the district where another friend of mine lives. He had warned me it would be difficult to find parking there and he was completely right, it was a nightmare and a half. The narrow hutong alleys were way too small, and every spot on the street was taken for hundreds of meters in every direction. I looked for parking lots on the GPS and the places it gave me didn’t exist or were parking spots reserved for hotel clients. I eventually parked on a street much, much further, no idea if it was legal or not, and rode a rent-a-bike for 15 minutes to the hutong apartment.

The Hutongster welcomed me with a 9 AM beer, as today is a hash day, the reason for my visit. We met at the Nash Hash two months ago and I thought it would be nice to go on a hash if I happen to be in the big joyless capital. He just moved there, in a rather small apartment at the end of a slummy little alley, it’s tiny and overpriced and the toilet doesn’t flush well, but he likes the location, dead in the middle of a hipster district, close to a lot of entertainment options. This means he has to commute 50-60 minutes to work, but he says he prefers commuting for work than commuting to play. As someone who used to live in the outer districts of a big city, I feel the exact opposite, but to each his own.

We carried two big coolers of beer to a taxi and went to the Olympic Park. Kiddiepoo, the hasher who broke his leg at Nash Hash, was already there, he was one of the hares but his limited mobility just meant he was the one watching the bags and beer coolers. We waited for a bit and then the hashers slowly came pouring in. Some I’d met already at Nash Hash: Socratease, Up The Butt, Super Squirter, Restraining Whoreder, 狗s Down Ruff, Juicy Bla Bla, Shtrupwaffel, Banana Shoes, among others. They were surprised and happy to see me.

Some were carrying water guns, the theme of the day. I borrowed one, a tiny handgun, no match for the huge Super Soakers some had brought, but it will have to do. The trail was quite nice, there were about five million people in the park on this uncharacteristically sunny day, but some bits were more quiet. The nicest part was through a sunflower field, and we also climbed a small hill. Some stragglers came in after we started, among them a dude from Zimbabwe whom I was working with 8 or 9 years ago, we even were roommates for a bit. “Oh shiiiiieeeeet!” he yelled, before embracing me.

Throughout the whole thing, people were shooting at each other with water guns, which felt quite good in fact. And then there was a big circle and an after-party picnic at the park. Good times, Beijingers know how to hash.

I left a bit early to ensure I’d make it back to the city before the pet shop where I’d left the dog closes. The boulevard was clogged with traffic, it took forever for the taxi I’d called to show up and then much longer to get to Dongzhimen. I picked up the dog and both of us were supremely happy to be reunited. The lady said he’d been crying on the first night but had been behaving well since, and got along with the other dogs. Good to hear.

I rode a rent-a-bike with him for 3 km to the car, where I picked up more clothes and then went to the hutong. I took a shower and chilled for a bit, then The Hutongster came in with Up The Butt and another hasher, a Chinese girl. We walked the dogs together and then came home for a game of Settlers Of Catan. I hadn’t played that board game in years, it’s pretty fun. We played on his small mezzanine, where the temperature was seriously 20 degrees hotter than downstairs. Going downstairs to get beer from the fridge was like jumping into a pool.