Beijing Boyce

I teamed up with photographer Nicholas Carre on Friday night for a seven-hour pub crawl in Beijing that started at Paddy O’Shea’s at 8 PM and wound through Sanlitun North, Workers Stadium East, The Place, Nanluoguoxiang and Houhai. We made it as far as Salud by ceremony’s end - here were the busiest spots up to that point:

1. The Sanlitun bar strip: This collection of touristy neon-lit copycat bars was jam-packed with patrons, both inside and outside, forcing . At some points, it became so crowded that we had to walk on the street.

2. The Sanlitun “Village”: The huge video screen drew by my estimate upwards of a thousand people. Lots of cheers went up as various teams marched in.

3. The Den and Hooters both saw dense crowds, as did Paddy O’Shea’s, The Saddle Cantina, and The Rickshaw.

4. The Nanluoguxiang strip: About half of the places were full, while the other half saw decent crowds. Salud was standing room only on the main floor and balcony.

The major disappointment: The Place. The spotty service at Enoteca saw us leave before ordering, while the deck at CJW looked rather placid, but the key bummer was that the huge sky screen showed only scrolling Coca-Cola logos. I had hoped to see something more sporting.

Anyway, I’ll soon have a full time line, with photos, of last night’s seven-hour journey as well as an update on Celebrity Watch.