Thanks Golzer

I have been recently informed that my facts about the world are all wrong and that China is no longer the second largest country in the world. Apparently, China has given over some of its land to its neighbors to become the fourth largest country in the world. It was very gracious of them and a gesture of goodwill.

But more important yesterday, I forgot to report that I had one of the best Chinese winds I have ever had. It doesn't mean it was good, it was just the best Chinese wine I have ever had. It was a red wine and surprisingly it was kind of cold. But the win was a 1996 Greatwall. All the other Greatwalls I have tried taste like piss. I have not been very impressed at all with the Chinese wine skills.

And speaking of the fine things. Last week, I discovered a great place to listen live Jazz. It is probably my new favorite play to listen to live music. All though Cheers on Saturday is really good too. But the place is in Houhai and it is called the East Shore Live Jazz Cafe. It is like the kind of place that you feel like Miles Davis began his career at. It has a nice chill atmosphere, the perfect place to listen to old school improvised jazz. It is much different than the jazz seen at Centro and Purple Haze Bistro. It doesn't feel polished. And the band we saw was a local jazz group. It was as good as any band that I have seen play in NYC. It is definitely a place that anybody who lives in Beijing and likes jazz should go to.

The best places to listen to live music that you don't have to pay for are (except for the drinks and this is heavily bias because I like Jazz):

East Shore Live Jazz Cafe
Cheers (only on Saturday when they play Latin music, I don't know if they have music other days but maybe. probably should be something I should check out.)
Centro
Purple Haze Bistro (only on Wednesday)

Highlight of the Day: Figuring out that I am not as smart as I pretend to be and the pancakes that I ate this morning. They could have used some Vermont maple syrup but they were still good though.