Zao Gao!

The 4th of July, you would think, is not a holiday celebrated in China but if you did think that you would be.......wrong. Our group from OU found plenty of people here who were more than happy to toast the day of independence with us. In fact, it was almost more patriotic than many 4th's I'd spent in the states. However, many strange and unusual events mapped the course of the evening leading up to our praise of the land of the free.
We kicked off the day by heading over to an American-owned bar after classes. The place is in Wu Dao Kou and the only thing American about it is the owner. Upon entering the bar, I noticed a sign on the wall that said, "Hot dogs, hamburgers and Budweisers only 10 kuai (kwhy) all day....... Freedom is free with every purchase." Ordering a hot dog in China takes some nerve but of course one member of our group took the challenge. It came with sweet and sour sauce on it instead of ketchup. So much for that.
But we were not to be dismayed. We kept right on drinking. Feeling a little adventurous, I chose to order a mixed drink from the bar. This was like having a 14 year old whose parents had left for the night get behind daddy's bar and attempt to mix it up for his friends. It took about ten minutes with at least five people behind the bar and only about twice that many people at the tables. The guy mixing my Utah Sucker Punch was clearly not from Utah and clearly not a mixologist. When he finally decided to make my drink he opened a book of recipes and added each part as if he were doing a high school lab experiment. Alas, I got my drink not long before the group was ready to head to the next locale.
I must tell you that your first time on the subway in Beijing should not be attempted when under the influence of alcohol. It is clearly better to try and navigate one of the worlds' largest and most crowded labyrinths of underground tunnels when you have a sober mind. Nevertheless, we stumbled onto the train and were whisked off into madness. Riding the first train for only a short while, we then transferred to another train that took us downtown, getting more and more jammed with people with every stop. We literally had to shove and crawl our way out when our stop came up. Let me amend what I said earlier. Perhaps being intoxicated would be better, as it takes a drunk person to have a sense of humor about being trapped in a sardine can traveling at the speed of light.
At any rate, blindly following one member of our group who had this "I know of this bar..."-type insistence, we set off on a journey to find this secret and mythological oasis. We walked at least a mile on a main road before turning down a street packed with perfectly nice bars. We passed all of them.
We took another turn down a street that was more like an alley. Then another turn.....this time definitely an alley. Further and further he led us into the folds of Beijing's San Li tun neighborhood. Feeling like we'd never find this place and getting grumpy because our buzz was wearing off, several of us started to whisper revolution and considered heading back to the bar street we started from. But we had no idea where we were or how we had gotten there so we forged on.
Finally in the backest back alley of the entire city we found this amazing place tucked behind palm trees and iron gates. The Hidden Tree, it's called. Aptly named.
The place had a brick oven for firing up some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life.... thank you Marco Polo......and a menu of fabulous international brews. It wasn't long though before the group got antsy and wanted to check out a few other bars in the near vicinity. We back tracked around the corner and went into a slightly lesser attractive place.
A few drinks in, one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened in my life took place. It began to pour down rain outside. And by pour down, I mean rainy season in the Congo, monsoon in Thailand kind of rain. And it didn't stop. As the sunlight disappeared, the streets began to fill up with water. It covered the first step of the bar's doorway.... then the second...... then it came up to the third step. Water seeped in through the walls and ceilings. On a very narrow alleyway, deep in the heart of Beijing, the entire group of OU students was trapped inside a bar in a city with very loose drinking laws. All we could say was "Zao Gao!!!" (zow gow, What a mess!)
All of us looked around and asked each other who has had their vaccines because it seemd very likely we were going to have to wade through about two feet of water to get back to the main street. With nothing else to do but have another drink, we just decided to let the Great Beijing Flood of 2008, as we named it, occur as it may.
Then something really amazing happened. Chinese people came out of their businesses all the way down the street bringing little boats they had made of paper and put them in the water. They lit candles and put them in the boats and watched them float around in the street that was now like a river. The rain slowed and the street got very quiet. We all just sat there on the stoop and watched the boat lanterns float around.
We communicated with these people in silence by pushing the boats back and forth across the road to each other. It was magical. When the moment passed, as beautiful, perfect moments always do, many who hadn't eaten decided to head back to the Hidden Tree for pizza. Some took the plunge and just decided to wade through the mucky water. I, on the other hand, took a more creative route. A taxi had just shown up to drop someone off nearby. He slowly made his way down to us, causing big waves of water as he crept forward. We flagged him down. A guy in our bar who just happened to be from Seattle asked me if I wanted to jump in with him and have the driver take us around the corner. So, for 5 kuai we got him to drive us less than 500 feet back to the Tree.
When we walked in, the place had filled up with Americans who were all drinking and having a great time. We showed up just in time to hear them break out into a resounding rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. I got chills and felt very patriotic, raised my beer that Seattle guy had just brought me from the bar and toasted with everyone. For the first time in my life, I may have missed out on fireworks in the sky, but I got to see candlelight on water.