May-May's Diary
Entry for august 9th, 1999
Hi Boys and girls..
Hi Boys and girls..
In my online persona, I get emails all the time from guys visiting Shanghai who
want to meet me, buy me a drink, and all the rest of that stuff. But one email
I received this week beat them all. Here it is: "Hi May-May, I am from
Australia and myself and another 15 guys will be arriving in Shanghai next
Tuesday. Our ages range from 22 to 25 Y.O. Hope to see you there." Well!! My
appetite in many directions is well known to be voracious, but this is over the
top!!!
One the new cool places in town to try is Bourbon Street located directly
across from the Promenade on Hengshan Lu. I was there last Friday night,
feeling no pain as they say, and didn't eat anything. But it looked like a
great Cajun menu, prices not particularly cheap, but still within the accepted
limits for Western food in Shanghai. As long as it tastes good. The space is
big, but still feels warm and cozy, with lots of dark wood and dark leafy
greens.
Paul Oakenfield, who is said to be the hippest, coolest, most successful DJ in
the world - or at least that's what it says here - was in Shanghai to rock our socks off. Since real rock concerts don't happen too much
around here, this may be the way to go: turntable artists spinning tunes and
making them their own with a bit of scratching and theater. Beats the hell out
of TV, anyway.
YY's, one of those places that bills itself as 'the' place to be because of all
the YY's groupies that hang out there, seems to be in the middle of a turnover.
Faces are changing and the music is too. Last Friday saw the finale performance
of 1997-99 Shanghai DJ legend Andreas Krueger, who kept the tunes spinning and
the crowds rocking for two good years of Saturday night partying, giving us all
a chance to "damage our bodies and free our minds".
The Bund is looking particularly stunning these days with the evenings nice and
long and unusually blue. We highly recommend a quiet stroll along the Bund at
dusk, after the Bund lights have been turned on, while the sky is still
luminous, and the last of the sun's rays light up the sci-fi world of Pudong.
Amazing.
Last weekend, I took a little trip to Chongqing up in Sichuan, and I have to
say it has increased my belief that Shanghai is the place to be in terms of
nightlife. Maybe I missed the scene, but there appeared to be nothing to do
there at all, except watch the red waters of the upper Yangtze race past. Out
on the streets in the early morning, the doujiang and youtiao were excellent.
But if I'd had my choice I would have been too exhausted by the previous
night's partying to have been within miles of such a breakfast!
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