Pretty much the opposite materialized (other than a brutal Thursday night I spent with her). She works most days, and didn't want to go out much during the week. So, early in the week, I spent the evenings hanging at local pubs and shooting the shit with random people.
Thankfully, Christian, a German guy, who lived in Sydney 2 years ago and had returned for a 3 week stint, showed up on Wednesday. He had spent the past few days in the Outback. We went out Wednesday night, we instantly hit it off. He's an architect and has several friends here that were all cool and down to earth.
On Wednesday night, he and I met up with this crazy Polish guy named Bartek and his son for a Thai dinner. Afterwards, Christian and I hit up a local pub where he became the first German in the history of the world to order a Miller Genuine Draft at a bar -- I gave him endless shit over it to his dismay (he thought MGD was terrible). We hit up a couple of other clubs, including one place that was one of the largest places I've ever seen -- two dance floors, a live music area, a gambling area, a lounge / pub area, and a backyard area. Also, there was this freaky blue room where the smokers would go -- it was smokey and lit with a fluorescent blue light. All in all, good times.
Thursday, Victoria told me that I had to experience Sydney with her and her friend (also named Victoria) because they were "crazy" together, and she wasn't sure I could keep up. Around 8pm, we went to a local bar and I was subjected to two hours of the both of them complaining about how they couldn't meet any good rich men. At one point, Victoria A (my landlord) admitted that she has a boyfriend, who's "her best friend" and who she "loves a ton," but she's also sleeping with 3 other guys. "They all offer something different; I need my younger, older and richer, guy, ya know?!" She also proceeded to drop names (she claims she has met Mariah Carey and Quinten Tarratino), claim she dated fashion icons (one loved her, but decided to leave her for a Brazilian supermodel), and wouldn't shut up about all of the supposedly important people that she used to date. For that matter, every story revolved around guys she had previously dated; it was awful. I got the impression that she has very little self esteem (she has a lazy eye, and is far from hot, so I doubt the majority of her stories are 100% true), and was doing her best to impress me. Anyway; enough of the analysis.
Her friend, Victoria B, was just as bad. She told some ridiculous story about how she hung out with the Russian mafia in Miami, had a few drinks, and woke up in the Bahamas without her passport. The details were so sketchy, and she was so much of an airhead, that I had a hard time believing anything coming out of her mouth.
Two hours, and two drinks later, both of them were drunk, bitching about guys, and I was ready to get the hell outta dodge. "Wow! Sydney is amazing!" I thought to myself. Bottom line was that this was a brutal evening and I wanted to go home to stab myself in the eyeballs with a hot poker. I got home around 11pm, and was supposed to go to a Leftfield show (I missed them at the Future Music Festival -- I was stuck in the VIP entry line when they played) with our other housemate, Dana, to meet up with Christian, but Dana bailed. Ugh.
On Friday, things dramatically turned around. Christian and I met up with a couple of his friends at an "art gallery" -- it was really an empty room where an "artist," an Aussie named Ben, drew a sketch on a wall. The sketch consisted of several books sitting on top of one another. All were philosophical books, starting in chronological order from Plato. To celebrate this amazing accomplishment, Ben, Christian, an Aussie named Dan, and a Polish guy named Daniel, and I drank bourbon and cokes and talked random shit. We headed off to a dance club and hit that up for a bit before moving to a more local establishment. The vibe at the local place was much better as the people were much more relaxed. They had a dance floor (seems like every place here does), pool tables and other randomness. Once the bar closed, we met some people outside and proceeded to a random house party that lasted fairly late. Good times.
On Saturday, Bartek, who works at a club (with the coolest name -- Chinese Laundry) put Christian and I on the guest list for a sold out German DJ show. Christian was really excited about the show b/c apparently the DJ is big in Berlin (where Christian lives), so we headed downtown. Downtown felt much more like an American style downtown -- there was a business district, an entertainment district, etc.
Chinese Laundry was nuts -- completely packed to gills. While I waited to get a drink, just 10 minutes after entering the club, an Aussie introduced himself to me and offered me Special K (tempting, but I declined), and later in two other instances, I was offered coke (also declined). It was amazing to me how out in the open all the use was. People were doing bumps all around me, and no one made any effort to hide it whatsoever. Definitely different from the States.
Anyway, the show was good times. Again, this place was massive -- it had three stories and a huge backyard area. The show played outside, where I'm guessing we were hanging with at least 300 people, all shoulder to shoulder, engaged in a huge dance party. To Christian's embarrassment, the group did several "Deutsche land" chants and other ridiculous German songs. The crowd was fairly young (it's legal to drink at 18 in Australia), but there was a good "who gives a f$@k" vibe.
The show began at 8pm, and adhered to German precision -- it ended exactly at 10pm. We headed to one of the other bars upstairs and met some random people. We planned to leave the club to head to another one, but, as has been the case almost every day here, it started "pissing" rain, so we decided to head to the underground dance areas instead. There were two dance areas -- they were really cool; all electronic music (no US Top 40 bullshit), and neither place had much light. In one of the areas, you literally could not see 2 feet in front of you. It was really cool. I can't imagine what it would've been like had I been on something more :)
With the rain continuing, we went to the backyard area so Christian could grab a "ciggy." It's a big deal to give away cigarettes as they run something really crazy like $20 for a pack here, so you're really obligated to hang with anyone who will let you bum one. We met some more people, and I found myself in a random conversation talking about Belgium. We ended up leaving around 4am (certain places like Chinese Laundry have no closing times). Good times.
Sunday was a bit more low key. We met up with Bartek and his kid again for dinner, and then Bartek provided some party favors for our club / dance floor excursions. Bartek's a really interesting guy that looks kinda like "Sideshow Bob" from the Simpsons.
Afterwards, we hit up a bar where a slew of prostitutes were hanging out (it wasn't our intention; we just stumbled into it). That was an interesting place. Yet again; another good time in Sydney.
Tonight's my last night in Sydney and it's "pissing" rain yet again. Might keep it a "small one" tonight since my flight to Bangkok is at the butt-crack.
Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here -- the weather not withstanding -- here's hoping that there's some trouble waiting for me in Bangkok.
Glad you're alive Marc! Chinese Laundry is also one of my favorite shoe labels :) We miss you!
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