Published by Swiss James on 26 Jun 2007
Warehouse party. Oh yes, a Warehouse party.
This Saturday was a funny one. After spending about 30 minutes buying tea from a very camp man, Liam and I strolled outside to find dark, ominous clouds gathering. You’ve never seen weather so dramatic, it looked like a vision of Skeletor was about to form in the billowing ether and demand that Castle Grayskull be handed over.
We just about managed to get into a cab before the first spots of rain turned into the kind of deluge that boy bands love to dance in. The streets were flooded instantly and there was lightning hitting each of the tall hotels in turn along the expressway- BANG- JC Mandarin, BANG, The Marriott. It looked amazing, but a bit like we might need a canoe to go out on the razzle.
I wish this was mine, but in fact Liam took this photo
Thankfully after a couple of hours, it pretty much dried up- Liam and I both put on suits (I forget why now, but it seemed a good idea at the time) and headed out to a fancy wine bar called Enoteca which is now officially in my top 5 fancy wine bars of all time. [And yes, we were aware that onlookers would assume we were celebrating our Civil Partnership].
Onwards to LaBella Cafe for more booze and a chance meeting with someone who told us about a party being put on in a couple of warehouses somewhere in the rough part of town. That sounded an ideal way to spend Liam’s last weekend in Shanghai so off we went, clutching umberellas and a shady sounding address.
And then what can you say? It was a proper filthy warehouse with laundry hanging up here and there, free to get in, when the bar inside ran out of 10RMB beers, we went outside and bought 2RMB bottles from the Chinese guys who worked in the warehouse next door. The music was spot on (house /techno in one building, mashup / electro in the other), everyone was really friendly and happy (hey wait a minute, I wonder if they were..), the views of lightning streaking the sky over cranes and containers were amazing, and suits or no suits we danced until the sun came up.
Anyone know when the next one is?
UPDATE! It turns out that this Saturday’s shindig was a “Tourist” party- they’ve done this sort of thing before, google and ye shall find. I will have to keep my beady eye out for another one.
Oh and for anyone in China that can’t get on flickr- I’ve backed up these photies to my own webspace.