A Night on the Town

Alex and I went out for a few drinks last night - we started at a youth hostel, then moved to another youth hostel, and finally ended up at 1+1 Club.

The first hostel was pretty uneventful. At the second hostel I met two of Alex's friends - an Australian and an Englishman. The Aussie went home to his girlfriend around midnight, and the Englishman kept drowning his sorrows (it was never really made clear what had gotten him down - he didn't seem to know himself) for a while longer. After that we found a guy in a side street selling barbecue, so we had a bite to eat. There aren't so many people eating at that time of night - we were the only ones in sight - but it's heartening to know you can still get freshly cooked food at 2am in the morning over here. After helping the Englishman to his taxi, Alex and I headed off again.

On our way to the club, we ran across a group of Portuguese businessmen. There are a lot more tourists around these days. These tourists, though, asked where the clubs were, and since we were going anyway, we showed them the way. They were looking in completely the wrong place, in case you're wondering. While chatting to them I discovered that they are in the insurance business, and are at the tail end of a trip to several countries. We got to the club, and by passing the message from the Portuguese guy, to me (I could understand his accent better), to Alex (who knows Chinese), to the waiter (who is Chinese), drinks were ordered. Alex and I danced, the tourists didn't seem so keen on it, and they left after they finished their drinks. Alex and I stayed on for a while, and made it home around 5.

So now I know the best way to have a good time in this city. Never go to the club straight away, because they charge through the nose for the drinks. Get dinner at one of the many nice, and dead cheap, restaurants or roadside cooks; gets drinks at a youth hostel or bar; and finally, go dancing for free at the clubs, since they don't have a cover charge.