I love the night life

China really comes alive at night. Even down on our local strip of restaurants and stores, after 7 or 8, the streets are filled with people-- eating, shopping, chatting. If you go into Ningbo proper, as we did tonight, it seems like all 5 million people are out and about. It's not just restaurants and bars-- trucks are still making deliveries, hair salons are still full of customers-- the town is buzzing.

We went down to Laobaitan, which means foreigner-ville. It's the old concession area of Ningbo-- where the Chinese allowed trade from the outside world-- and is still where foreigners gather: there are Indian and Italian restaurants, an Irish pub and "foreign entertainment" night clubs. It's very pricy by Chinese standards-- we ate an Indian meal and the bill was about $30 for the three of us.

When we got there a big procession came by which I assume must have been a wedding. First came a man snapping pictures of everything, including us, and then a bunch of men with cymbals and other instruments including, oddly enough, an accordion. Everyone was in bright red silk outfits with yellow head-dresses. They were carrying two little people carriers (what is the right word here? you know, ceremonial boxes that people sit in) over their shoulders on poles. By the way, the carriers were not particularly large, but they were not carriers for little people per se. Every five minutes or so, the carriers would stop and put down the people carriers. Then everyone would rush up to the people holders and peer in. We did too, and saw the bride in an elaborate head-dress waving back out at us. I think my favorite moment though, was when one of the pole carriers in traditional dress, doing this traditional ceremony, pulled out his cell and started texting as he walked.

After dinner, we wandered the streets and came across a street show of some kind. The first act was some sort of game show like thing, with a blindfolded girl having to identify what i assume was her boyfriend out of a group of men. There were a lot of jokes which I missed. The next act was a magician though, which needed no translation; nor did the excitement in the faces of the kids watching him. By the way, it seems that, at least at outdoor entertainment, the Chinese favor those plastic clappers that look like a bunch of hands.

Also, the advantage of a Chinese crowd is you can always see over everyone's head.