Beijing Boyce

My first “consulting” gig was two weeks ago as I was responsible — never before have I been paired with that word — for taking some three dozen visitors, from nearly every continent, on a pub crawl. Agent Red Wolf tagged along, but didn’t do much, except negotiate prices, direct buses, entertain guests, recommend drinks — the minor stuff. We first headed to Nuage, a relaxing spot with a great view of both Houhai and the drum and bell towers. With a few drinks and some Vietnamese food under our belts, we decided to indulge in “history” and went to Suzie Wong’s, which is among Beijing’ oldest clubs and has that opium den feel (plus, it was warm enough to sit on the deck). We then gathered our forces, save for the dozen of so defectors who either went back to the hotel (”8 AM climb on The Great Wall. What kind of excuse it that?”) or to Karaoke (”Hey, don’t you have an 8 AM climb?), and took our magic buses to Browns. There, manager Glenn Phelan’s smiling face greeted us at the door and the bar’s tasty snacks (Buffalo-style wings again!) greeted us inside. After a bit of boogying, a bit of people watching and a bit of drinking, we packed off our patrons to the hotel, who I hope were happy with their Beijing bar-hopping experience.

(From Beijing Boyce XV, first emailed on April 21, 2006)