Yeah, that was hot.

"The bus driver would like me to tell you all that he's selling beer for 5rmb a can."


It's 10:00am and I'm freshly out of a steaming hot shower. 15 minutes ago I arrived home, soaking wet, shoes sand encrusted, quite fragrant (somehow rainwater doesn't counteract the pungent aroma that characterizes all night dancing), and rather satisfied.


I spent last night at the intersection of the Great Wall and the Yellow Sea dancing until the sun came up beneath a canopy of thunder, lightening, and beautiful blessed rain. On a small courtyard of sand sandwiched between the wall and the sea and at the mercy of the storming Chinese sky, we 500 (give or take a few French girls) from all over the world pranced about as hard as you possibly can. At this point, if you haven't surmised this for yourself, I would like to say that last night was utterly and incomprehensibly fantastic.


Near Beijing University theres this place you can go for a really good pizza and a Draft Guinness. At this place, for the past 3 weeks or so, there have been fliers for an all night long beach party at the Great Wall for 200rmb (+/-30 dollars), including entry and roundtrip bus fare. Now, the words 'Great Wall' and 'Beach Party', when separated, hold little allure for me. To me the Great Wall equals hoards of tourists and after living on Oahu beach parties not held in the state of Hawaii don't sound very enticing. When inextricably combined, however, those two phrases become quite irresistable. So I, along with two lovely ladies named Kalinda and Any, bought some tickets. And a few Guinesses, but that doesn't really have bearing on the story at hand.


Our busride ended up being about 5 to 5 1/2 hours long, and absolutely fantastic. With the addition of the beer so thoughtfully supplied by our bus driver, the ride turned from dull and gruelling to lively and enjoyable (as a number of situations, when supplied with alchohol, are wont to do). As a nod to not only how small but also how vast our globe is, directly behind me was a guy celebrating his graduation from UCSB and my seat partner had just flown in from Paris. The bus itself was filled mostly with expats, and was oddly balanced in representation- in addition to our representation of rowdy americans, there were rowdy french, germans, australians, brits (who thankfully were not soulless tory scum), belgians, and spaniards. The bus was long, it was pleasant. We had drinking songs, my contribution to which was the drunken sailor song (of which i know quite a few verses). The best drinking song, however, erupted towards the end of the ride. It had no words, and only a tune. Somehow, everyone knew it. I don't think anyone had heard it before, and i'm not sure from whence it came, but it arrived none the less and persisted longer than any of the others. Yatta for that.


Arriving to find not only the Great Wall but also the stormy Yellow Sea was amazing. None of us partygoers had really known where we were going (or for that matter the length of the ride- in China people don't really like to tell you things and most of us had heard is was going to be about 2 hours), but the payoff was stunning. Lining the Wall were various food stands (of the Beijing street vendor variety), as well as beer and mixed drink stands. Adjacent to these a rather large stage stood on the sand, upon which DJs spun their wares from dusk till dawn. The juxtaposition of ancient grandeur and modern festivities was quite interesting. Down the beach from our stage one of the Wall's watchtowers jutted into the sea and further up traditional chinese homes formed a little cluster on the shore.

The night unfurled with lots of music, food, drinks, and fun. I haven't felt such a sense of comraderie and community since the last time I was on Oahu amongst close friends. The vibe of the festivities was extremely open and friendly, and was a balm to any irritations i've had towards humankind lately. Strongly reminiscent of the wholeness I feel in Hawaii, it was lovely. The night started strong with lots of dancing and carousing, and inexorably as the night began to turn closer to day people paired off and scattered across the shore near the water. Lightening had been gracing the sky with promises of rain that for a while seemed false, but around 2am the sky opened and let her bounty fall. Dancing with two beautiful french sisters in the rain next to Great Wall and the Yellow sea, seeing the crowd enthused by the rain rather than dissuaded, i couldnt help but feel the world grab me by the shoulders and yell, "snap the fuck out of it! dont you see the beauty?!"

And the rain fell steadily for the next two hours, the lightening grew heavier, the dancers more vibrantly ecstatic.

I climbed onto a bus at 5:00am, and made it home by 10.

love&luz
jessie