I can't make it but thanks for the offer. I am more of a meet one or two people at a time type. I do not drink, smoke or eat meat any longer, so the ham thing is not a lure. Large crowds of people talking loudly freak me out. So I am freaked out most of the time in China.

If some people here would like to meet up in a small group someday for non-alcohol fueled nihilism I am game. And I am much less negative and grumpy in person. But I am not really into some sort of spectacle or event that seems to generate an uncomfortable feeling in me from the get go. Would not mind making sincere friends, but not just 酒肉朋友 (jiu rou peng you), or fair weather "dinner party pals"。 Anybody play chess? I am soso and trying the king's gambit lately.

Bill

Well I'm game for a meet, but not at some over priced western bar.

we know better than that.
Jian Xin Yuan, the best real rice noodles in kunming or I know a great muslim place on Dong Si street .

The best rice noodles in KM? Is that like the tallest midget in the circus?

It seems some people move to places they shouldn't really be in, and feel that their personal preference in cuisine (among other things) represents the Platonic Idea of quality. Which, of course, they should express on every possible occasion, believing that the world is dying for a share in their knowledge.

Anyone go and meet up? I was moving house and unpacking, couldn't make it... would I have been the only one there if I had gone?