Back to Pingguo for another meal but early night

Felt quite refreshed and took Xixi out for a walk in the morning. It can get rather cool in the early morning/late evening now, and the Chinese over-compensate by wrapping up the kids in layers upon layers of clothing. Fair enough I suppose, but as the sun came out in the park I removed Xixi's pink coat and pink jumper and we did some walking training. She had already done a poo poo in the bin with Waipo holding her, so she wasn't wearing nappies. She stayed dry till we got back 30 mins later to my relief.

The 21 year old son of one of the neighbours who has become a sort of babysitter for Xixi came later in the morning to take Leilei and Qiqi to the zoo. I didn't go but here are a couple of photos (some of these probably wouldn't be allowed in the UK).

A goat balancing on a stool on a tightrope, with a monkey on its back.

Monkeys and a bear riding bikes

Bears being clever

Fun at the zoo with Qiqi

More fun at the zoo with Qiqi

I had to get back so said I'd get the train again but they wouldn't let me; someone was borrowing the car to go back to Pingguo so I would go with them. During the journey I did something I've never done before in a car - I dozed off for 20 minutes. Back in Pingguo a friend we'd picked up invited us for a meal that evening and that was that.

I managed to get something done I'd been planning for over a week now - change the knackered batteries in A Ni's electric bike we've borrowed, and fix the puncture - all for a shade under 40 quid including service. Had great fun riding around Pingguo on the bike and having to return a "hello" every few seconds to strangers on the road. I really intend to make a map of this place if I can't find one. I bumped into Xiao Lu, the now divorced husband of Lao Ma who we met for the first time 5 years ago. He invited me for a meal but as he did so I got a call from A Wu telling me we were going for our meal.

We got in the car and drove to this bloke's place. Quite frankly I can't remember if he is a relative or not - most people seem to be. The meal was excellent, and it was nice that there were loads of kids running around, though not so that there was a lot of second-hand smoke around. The owner of the house got out a bowl of "Medicine Alcohol" that he had brewed himself. It was rather drinkable, though at 50% quite potent. I was told that this stuff was excellent at promoting sleep, so I'm not sure why we started the meal with it. He is going to make a bottle for me to take back to UK. We moved on to weak beer soon after and then playing Cai Ma, where we played in teams and I did at least as well as the rest. But after a while I was shattered. I don't know if it was the food or the booze or just the last six weeks but I had to leave the table and sit on a bench and rest my eyes. I then said I was very sorry but had to go home. Of course they wouldn't let me go by myself, so A Wu drove me. I just managed to derobe before falling into a deep sleep at 9pm.