Nomads Going Nowhere (Not)

It's a very chill city.

Is the first thing that Yibo thinks of the place when he first arrives. His impression of the city further upgrades when the shuttle bus driver who fetched his group from the airport parks in front of a large bus terminal for a short break, to when Yibo had been able to actually inhale a lungful of the Xiamen fresh air. It is indeed, very different from Beijing, even Luoyang.

They are brought to their hotel to drop their belongings. Then their professors (or 'guides', as they like to call themselves for this trip) take the class for a few hours of sight-seeing. It is, of course, not a trip sponsored by the university, so the professors only enumerate several nearby affordable restaurants and eateries for them to choose from for dinner before letting them go with the nonchalant You're grown ups, make sure you're alive for tomorrow's visits.

"Nice," Seungyoun pulls up his phone once their professors have walked away. A significant part of their group has also already gone out of sight. Now there's only Yibo, Seungyoun, Wenhan, and a few other Economics majors trying to decide where they should go.

"Okay, so." Seungyoun scrolls down his screen. "We've got a few nearby clubs. Some bars..." he continues to scroll. "Of course there's that lounge at the hotel rooftop, but that's obviously where most of the class is going so of course that's gonna be boring. Cool drinks though, according to the reviews. Just don't kinda vibe with the people."

Wenhan laughs when the remainder of their other classmates leave them be. Now there's just the three of them.

"Ooh, look." Seungyoun taps on his phone. "There's a bar by the ocean called Bar the Ocean . Cozy. Live band. They have a skeleton arm wine glass stem."

"Looks expensive." Wenhan says.

"Eh," Seungyoun keeps searching in his phone. When he stops, he tugs at Yibo's sleeve. "Yibo!" he all but shoves the phone to Yibo's face. "Look, there's a pub called One Piece!"

"Hah, let's go." Yibo nods.

"No reviews though." Seungyoun warns.

"Ooooh, mysterious." Wenhan waves his hands.

They make their way to said pub, by way of taxi. It's still a little too early to go for drinks, so Yibo and his friends decide to go to some cheap eatery first to fill their stomachs with real food, instead of going to the pub hungry.

After Wenhan finishes his bowl of noodles, they go back to the pub, see that there's already a line forming outside. As it turns out, it's still closed earlier. It was a good decision to eat first and come back.

The man at the front door frowns at Seungyoun, to which Seungyoun rolls his eyes to before he quickly takes out two IDs from his wallet for the guy to see. Yibo and Wenhan just laugh at him as they make their way inside.

It has nothing to do with One Piece. Or at least, nothing at surface-level. Perhaps it's just an inspired pub, and the interior is what the owners have imagined Sanji's workplace to be like in the anime. It is very pleasing to the eye, though. The floors and walls are made of wood, even the bar counter. Behind the counter are shelves full of wines and other beverages, and two bartenders working leisurely side by side.

Yibo goes over the table that Seungyoun had picked for them and slinks himself to sit on the cushioned wooden seat. The placemats on the table are printed menus themselves, so Yibo surmises even without looking that this place wouldn't be too pricey. When he does look down at the menu, he is pleased to see that he is correct.