05-30-2026, 10:40 PM
After spending some 7 hours disassembling a cedar onsen hot tub and moving it from Menlo Park to Svale, I took a quick shower and made it for the 26 anniversary of Saigon Seafood Restaurant off Lawrence in Svale, owned by a Shaolin brother I've known and befriended since he came over maybe two decades plus ago. It was quite a gathering of the wulin, many friends I missed over last weekend when there were two tournaments held whilst I was at Cali Roots.
It was a classic Chinese banquet (yes, I know Saigon is in Vietnam - I have no idea why it's called that). It started with an insane lion dance that filled the hall with gunpowder fumes (nothing stirs an appetite like that smell), then a ton of speeches by various dignitaries and announcements of various VIPs (no I wasn't announced), then a karaoke singer dressed in some traditional stringed instrument (I think it was a sanxian) until he shifted to odd canto pop song and sort of dance, then a face-changing act, then I lost track. The food was good - coconut walnut prawns, seaweed salad, baby octopus (I abstained from that), jellyfish, baby abalone, fried lobster, steamed carp or some carp like fish, somme kinda soup, fried rice with bacon and shrimp (another abstain), beef vegetables (abstain), almond and mango gelatin, probably missing a few... There was coke, sprite, a cab that smelled ok but had no taste, green tea beer (not good, nope), and zhenaiyisheng, a baijiu (white liquor) that was astonishingly smooth and 54% alcohol plus lots of healing herbs.
Yanran was there - the SF disciple of the abbot.
Oh - I should mention that the abbot got sentenced yesterday - 24 years for bribery and embezzlement.
I really wanted to talk to Yanran. We pulled him over towards the end. I told him that if he wanted to make any statement, I was open to him, and if he didn't I totally understood. He was shitfaced drunk. I must abdicate my Drunk Monk moniker to him for the night because he's a genuine Shaolin monk and he was so drunk, huge, 'I love you' drunk. Turns out he's the importer of the beer and baijiu - or at least that's what he told me between hugs and sloppy 'we are Shaolin brothers'. He promised me a case of the baijiu and we did several shots together. Lemme tell ya, when a drunk Shaolin monk grabs hold of you, there's no escape. Yanran is strong, thick, with an iron grip.
Y'all know me. I talk to a lot o inebriated people. I've even talked to inebriated monks and masters before. My drunken style is still strong.
It was great - a deep dive into the wulin - one of those drunken fist moments that I cherish and haven't had in a while, more extreme than the TCEC after parties. I love my life. And I brought home a bottle of that baijiu. Hope Yanran remembers about his case promise. It's' the best baijiu I've had so far.
I need to rehydrate and crash. Gonna be sore tomorrow from hot tub deconstruction and drunk monk hugs.
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
It was a classic Chinese banquet (yes, I know Saigon is in Vietnam - I have no idea why it's called that). It started with an insane lion dance that filled the hall with gunpowder fumes (nothing stirs an appetite like that smell), then a ton of speeches by various dignitaries and announcements of various VIPs (no I wasn't announced), then a karaoke singer dressed in some traditional stringed instrument (I think it was a sanxian) until he shifted to odd canto pop song and sort of dance, then a face-changing act, then I lost track. The food was good - coconut walnut prawns, seaweed salad, baby octopus (I abstained from that), jellyfish, baby abalone, fried lobster, steamed carp or some carp like fish, somme kinda soup, fried rice with bacon and shrimp (another abstain), beef vegetables (abstain), almond and mango gelatin, probably missing a few... There was coke, sprite, a cab that smelled ok but had no taste, green tea beer (not good, nope), and zhenaiyisheng, a baijiu (white liquor) that was astonishingly smooth and 54% alcohol plus lots of healing herbs.
Yanran was there - the SF disciple of the abbot.
Oh - I should mention that the abbot got sentenced yesterday - 24 years for bribery and embezzlement.
I really wanted to talk to Yanran. We pulled him over towards the end. I told him that if he wanted to make any statement, I was open to him, and if he didn't I totally understood. He was shitfaced drunk. I must abdicate my Drunk Monk moniker to him for the night because he's a genuine Shaolin monk and he was so drunk, huge, 'I love you' drunk. Turns out he's the importer of the beer and baijiu - or at least that's what he told me between hugs and sloppy 'we are Shaolin brothers'. He promised me a case of the baijiu and we did several shots together. Lemme tell ya, when a drunk Shaolin monk grabs hold of you, there's no escape. Yanran is strong, thick, with an iron grip.
Y'all know me. I talk to a lot o inebriated people. I've even talked to inebriated monks and masters before. My drunken style is still strong.
It was great - a deep dive into the wulin - one of those drunken fist moments that I cherish and haven't had in a while, more extreme than the TCEC after parties. I love my life. And I brought home a bottle of that baijiu. Hope Yanran remembers about his case promise. It's' the best baijiu I've had so far.
I need to rehydrate and crash. Gonna be sore tomorrow from hot tub deconstruction and drunk monk hugs.
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse