The Fly Bar

So as we wrap up this particular excursion into China, We had an extra day to goof off before heading home. We have been running the plant pretty well the last few months and out ran the customer’s ability to take all we produced, and while we need to continue to make production to meet our business plan, it just didn’t make sense to keep producing if the customer was not going to take the product, so we needed to throttle back the production schedule a bit and the local team decided to shut down the plant for a long weekend. This was definitely a last minute decision and it was fortunate for Josh and myself that we had managed to complete our work in time such that the loss of a day wasn’t a real impact on us.

As a result, we decided the best course of action was to leave Xiangtan a day early and head up to Changsha for some sight seeing and relaxation before the long haul home.

We made our reservations at the Crowne Plaza because they have the best beds. No hard Chinese rocks that they call beds – these are real thick, plush, soft comfortable American beds.

The hotel sits on a corner where the two streets are a complete disaster due to the construction of the Changsha Subway system and it is a real challenge to get to the hotel itself. It seems every road to the place is blocked off. This actually worked in our favor because the hotel gave us a free upgrade to a suite so I had a not only the plush bed in a nice bedroom, but also the large living room and gigantic walk-in shower. So for a day and a half, we had a small taste of luxury.

Anyway, we went to dinner Thursday night and then tried to visit a few of the local watering holes on what they call “Bar Street”. Unfortunately, they are all big clubs with thumpa-thumpa music, strobe lights, lasers, smoke machines, and so incredibly loud you can’t talk that I eventually left Josh and headed back to the hotel to allow him to explore as he wanted to without the old guy holding him back. As I walked to the hotel up a side street, I spied what appeared to be a small pub with outdoor seating, good jazzy music (Chinese, of course, but still jazzy in nature). I thought to myself that this would be my back up plan for Friday night if Josh didn’t find anything better.

He didn’t as I learned later.

Friday, we had a full day of sightseeing at the Yu Liu Academy (the 1,000 year old university) and Orange Island (featuring the 200 foot rock Bust of Mao). We followed this with dinner at the Fire Palace. A crazy, loud, and hectic restaurant in a more old traditional architecture area (Marty – you recall this is where you had the “Stinky ToFu” and the Fishcraw dinner). The place was packed and they set us up a table crammed in between other tables but Josh had to sit on a stool due to lack of available chairs. We really didn’t care – it added to the craziness of the place. No pictures on the menu, so I had a pre-written list of what to order.

We wandered around a little after dinner and we decided to go try out the the little pub I had seen. The name was the “Fly Bar”. Of course we invented all sorts of stories as to why that was the name, but it was nice little place with outdoor seating on the corner of a walking street so we could sit and people watch. They have Stella Artois beer, so that was an immediate plus. We sat and watched people who were watching us and enjoyed a few libations.


 The pinnacle of the evening was the song that I have attached for you here (a little dark, but the audio is the focus).  A wonderful song to hear in preparation for the long flight back home. We weren’t headed to Georgia, and we weren’t traveling by train (there's your hint), but it was the perfect song in preparation for the next day. I got a taxi card for the bar to return to in the event I get another opportunity to spend time in Changsha.  I'll definitley go back!!

So, a fast two and half week trip is concluded. I’ll be back in mid to late August. So just listen to this to keep you entertained until I return and offer up some other stories of this crazy world.