Helen's Bar

China Day 18 (Tianjin)

I'm glad it's the weekend! Class is over and the weight of that is off my shoulder. It's a relief. Since it's the beginning of the weekend, I think talking about Helen's would be an appropriate topic. Our group's favorite bar so far seems to be Helen's. This bar is about 4-5 blocks from our hotel, and 1-2 from Nankai University. It's only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel so the location is quite convenient. The first thing I noticed about this bar is that after about 7PM it is always packed with people, no matter what the day. The Chinese certainly like to get their drink on. In all seriousness though, we have had to wait at least 30-45 minutes every time we go there late at night to get a table. This sometimes can take hours so you have to be aggressive with finding a table. There have been nights where we weren't able to get one at all so we sat outside the bar and drank there. Helen's is a western bar and as such plays western music inside. It also has great food that is commonplace in America, such as burgers, spaghetti, and pizza. This food is comparable to if not better than its American counterpart. Another interesting thing about Helen's, and a savvy business tactic, is that they have a different special each night. For example, Mondays are free coffee night and Saturdays are cheap Kamikaze shots as well as free cigarette's. This makes it a bit different every day you go there and some of the nights have especially great deals to take advantage of. I think my favorite thing about this bar is the tube of beer. It's a giant tube of beer that can fill 6-7 full mugs and it's only 50 Yuan (around 7-8 USD)! Another great thing about Helen's is the people there. I've meet a ton of awesome people from all reaches of the world. Overall, it's a really great bar and I've had my fair share of nights there. I have a feeling there may be more of the same tonight.