Or ... you could swallow a fencing sword while simultaneously breathing fire, juggling, preparing a tea ceremony, and playing the bamboo flute out of your nose.

Magnifico, all of that, in church.

There's also @taijijulia et al who can teach you both standard Taiji and the sword form of the art - very eclectic and unique.

For the night owl - there's JJ & Janice's Toastmasters - that'll eat up once a week. Pick up badminton - someone advertised pseudo-regular pickup games a while ago (or organize & start your own group), ping-pong, swimming, and the gym.

Dangsters (et al) if you're interested in performance level dance and generally impressing people and perhaps yourself at dance clubs...

Choir groups - so you can improve your KTV skills (gratis) - not necessarily church affiliated.

Calligraphy (more eclectic stuff)...and I don't believe anyone's started a Chinese Dead Poet's Society yet...sorta equivalent to reading shakespeare in Chinese I suppose.

All to the accompaniment of the tea ceremony.

One of the gokm readers was (is?) into bizarre foods ...bugs, grubs, scorpions, n stuff - not to mention snake, peacocks (the non-endangered species version I hope), and of course - the prolific travel options....hiking, etc. For local travel - buzz @HFCAMPO - he's probably one of the more prolific Yunnan travellers and long-term gokm resident.

Damn! You guys are great!

With all this stuff to do, why would anyone ever want to go to a bar again?!

On a serious note, though...I had been thinking that some tea classes would be a good thing. Has anyone done that?

Read a book, exercise, make a friend, take a walk, jog, buy a bike and ride it, do some travelling, teach for free, meet people who are sober, take the focus off yourself and try to understand others, start a group like english corner or other interest you may have. The list is endless and only limited by one's imagination if the brain is not already pickled from alcohol abuse.

Actually, I'd like to learn Chinese chess and play against some of these old fellows in the park. They all seem to be having a good time. (Kinda reminds me of American guys who go bowling.)

@HFCAMPO. I agree. When people get bored it's because they stop using their imagination. As a child I remember playing with boxes with my brothers pretending it was a house and we would play game with things like that. Too bad as adult we lose our imagination for the most part. Be like children.You can learn an instrument, help the elderly, invent something, etc. Come on you can do it. Be a child again!

I no longer play with cardboard boxes but I always seem to be busy doing somehting or other. I can not imagine myself coming to a public forum and asking others for advice on what to do with myself. I find travelling is so wonderful and there is no limit to how far or the things one can do and see in Yunnan, in China or anywhere else. I love history so I enjoy visiting historical places and then returning home to learn more about it. It is a cycle, the more I learn, the more I want to learn and see other places.

I've been to acceptable western classical music concerts here, and Yang Liping herself was certainly a fine dancer and choreographer.

And there's always the study of Chinese for those who can't yet function independently in it - tends to broaden one's ideas, social horizons and interests, as well as deepen one's independence and ameliorate many cultural annoyances and frustrations.
You could also get involved in charitable work, something to help even the social playing field - rural kids' education, for instance - though this may require a little cash and time away from the bars - but...let's not leave out the bars.