After the last race of the season in China we went to the closing ceremony. At each table, they had bottles of a traditional Chinese drink. I'm not sure exactly what it's called but it smells like metho and is 51% alcohol. I had a few shots and sampled the local beer to celebrate the end of the last race of the season and finally unwind.
After the ceremony, we headed into town. I didn't think I would need my phone for anything so I left it at the hotel. I grabbed about $60 in Chinese money so I couldn't spend too much and my Australian driver's license for ID.
We found a club and someone suggested we get a bottle of vodka. Four bottles later and I don't remember a thing. When I came to, I was being pushed into the garden outside by about 6 Chinese guys. One stood on me while the others took everything out of my pockets including my Australian drivers license and my wedding ring off my finger.
Luckily, my team mate Simon was going past and saw me. He yelled and everyone ran for it. After helping me into a taxi, he found our manager further up in the garden and he had suffered the same fate.
The next day was hell. I could not move my head and I still had to pack my bike before we caught a flight that afternoon.
I struggled to take the wheels off my bike and had to lay down several times in between. I slept for as long as I could before getting on the bus. I slept on the bus to the airport. I slept in the airport terminal while everyone argued with the airline about weight limits. I slept the entire flight. I slept on the bus to the next hotel. I slept once we checked in until dinner.
During the entire day, I said only a handful of words and even they were just grunts. I couldn't eat anything the entire day and barely managed to keep dinner down.
I have since decided to give up drinking for a while and have not touched a drop since that night. It's been just over 6 weeks and so far nothing bad has happened to me since I quit. Coincidence? Probably
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