KTV

Yesterday was Yanyan's 28th birthday (after another birthday party of German co-student Stefanie on Friday), and her wish was to spend it at a KTV (karaoke box) with her friends. By far the most popular place to spend time on Friday or Saturday evening in East Asia. I'm not a big fan of karaoke, but here in China (and also in South Korea and Japan) it's big-time entertainment, especially for teenagers and students.
There are plenty of KTV venues in Nanning, some very large and glamourous, some more modest. There's a rather small KTV right next to the main gate of Guangxi University, and that's where we went. A KTV works like this: you rent a room for your party, equipped with a large screen TV, a sound system with plenty of mikes, disco lights, etc., and you spend just one hour, or (as in our case) up to the whole night there. KTV is full-service entertainment industry, and you pay a premium price for the drinks and snacks. That's basically how they make money.
Yanyan had invited 8 friends, and I also had invited 4 classmates, so we were with 14 people altogether. We rented the largest room available, with a long curved couch, two glass tables, a 46-inch screen and big speakers. The volume was cranked up to club level, and the A/C switched on. Staff brought in two trays of 12 cans of beer each (Papst Blue Ribbon), and bowls of popcorn and pumpkin seeds.The stage was set for a night long karaoke session.
Yanyan had arranged for a large birthday cake to be brought in, topped with fruit and decorated with candles, very nice.After devouring the cake, two of Yanyan's classmates and my friend Xiao Li in particular turned out to be devoted karaoke singers, not letting go of the mike for hours and hours, until sleep was taking over at around 5AM. Staff was coming in now and then to pick up empty beer cans and other trash, and to replenish our stock of beer and various snacks. It dawned on me that there was no way of leaving the venue before 6AM anyway, because the kids would not be able to return to their dormitories after midnight. So, we just hangout there the whole night, until 6 in the morning. I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures..