16 Candles (+ a decade)

I turned 26 in Beijing! It took me a while to write this post, but it is important that I document what is potentially my only birthday in China.

Leading up to the big day, I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired. What can top a lesbian pool party in a NYC club with hoards of my closest friends? Nothing, of course. But I realized that that doesn’t mean I couldn’t still have a great time.

Kelly researched and brought me to a super fancy restaurant called, “China Grill”, which is on the 63rd floor of a hotel and featured a 360 degree view of the city. I enjoyed delicious fresh seafood, steak, and appetizers, whenever I could take my eyes off of the windows.

For nighttime, I had rally people to this bar called Hercules in Sanlitun. I figured this was a good spot, since it was right in the heart of where ex-pats go out, and would be an easy bar to lead to dancing. Hercules is one of my favorite bars in Beijing for its tasty spread of martinis for only 50 kuai (RMB). My favorite is the cucumber martini, which is unbelievably fresh. My favorite to listen to other people order is “fok me fok you”, especially when the waiters repeat the order back with heavy accents.

I reserved “the bedroom”, the back part of the bar, which actually has two loftish beds. It was nice to start at a place where the music wasn’t too loud, and the lights not too low to actually have conversations. But by 1 am, I was ready to move the party upstairs.

We went to a rooftop bar in the same building where they were playing hip hop and reggaeton, my favorite kind of dancing beat. One thing I’ve really enjoyed here that I hadn’t expected, is hanging out with a mixed group of people. We’re all kind of thrown together, the ex-pats, and it’s made a different kind of community for me. My crew included straight girls and guys, gay boys, as well as some other ladies like myself.

Like I said, it was no lesbian pool party, but I feel like I did justice to the new year in my life.