KTV with kids and cai ma then No 5 Cafe boss's birthday

Not a late start, more like 10am. My head wasn't perfect due to last night so to sort it out I got on the electric bike and stopped 30 seconds later to have a bit of rice at the local eatery. Then I set off on a very rewarding tour of Pingguo that took me to some places I'd not seen before. I realised before long that I was about the only one outside on a bike without an umbrella, and that I was probably getting burnt. So I stopped outside a shop that sold ice-creams and had a 5 mao honeymelon lolly that was very nice if a little sweet. I also found a place that sells paraphenalia for mopeds and enquired about fixing the handlebar I'd somewhat broken while getting home after the World Cup final. Well apparently that couldn't be mended, but I also found that the back numberplate was broken. It's not really a numberplate as you don't need one for an electric bike but it was still broken. So I said I'd like this nice new shiny one to put on the back of the bike so A Ni would be pleased. Problem was the holes were not the right size. Problem? Silly me, get the drill out and make some new ones and fit it. Job done, 10 kuai. And it ends in "5" so A Wu should be happy.

I happened to drive past his office at around 1pm and he happened to be outside and waved me down. As it was lunchtime that meant we would have lunch together. Fair enough. As I parked the bike I showed him the fancy new numberplate. He noticed that a couple of the characters were Japanese and stated "I hate Japanese!!", to which I retorted by pointing at his car and asking why he had bought a Nissan. We all saw the funny side and got in his Zefiro to go to a local place and have a nice meal for only 75 kuai for five of us. I had lent A Wu 100 kuai yesterday to pay a worker, and he remembered so wouldn't let me pay the bill, and gave me the 25 kuai change. I thought about offering it as a tip but remembered even if I tried it wouldn't be accepted. I suppose repeat custom is more important to them (and they certainly get that from us).


Bike's new Japanese numberplate with Leilei about to sneeze

I managed a siesta for a couple of hours so was feeling ok come 5pm. I drove down to Jiuma's place where Xixi spends most of her time and met them there. Lin Hong also came and after a while said she'd take Xixi to the guang chang. That was about the only thing she could do to prise her away from me. Then, after a while, Lin Hong rang me to say that they were going to the KTV place to sing song. As A Wu had already mentioned something about KTV I assumed they would be in the same place. A Wu was aware that I had not been available much the last week so I think wanted to make amends for that.

So Leilei and I turned up at the KTV bar we always go to at around 9pm after copious phone calls with Lin Hong asking where we were and what time we'd be coming. When we arrived we couldn't find the room number she had mentioned, "386", so looked in a couple of ones that sounded close. Then I got a phone call from Chen Hong, or "Brandy" as he likes to be known to English speaking friends - I hadn't seen him for a good year so was looking forward to it. He, apparently, was in another room but it was so noisy I couldn't hear him so I left a text saying I'd ring him later. It took a couple more phone calls with Lin Hong before we realised we were in the wrong KTV place. Fancy that, we've been to the same place every time for the last two or three years and suddenly they go somewhere else. Well, we were to go to the place next to the guang chang, so Leilei and I dutifully got on our bike and drove the two minutes there, where we found Lin Hong outside waiting for us. It was some kind of kids' party with lots of silly songs, but there were a fair few adults (parents I hope), of which some blokes a little the worse for wear intent on making my play cai ma. Well I didn't really mind, and played with them for a bit before my tummy felt too gassy. Then I also saw that Xixi was pretty tired so I made my excuses and said I'd be back a little later after taking her home.

She is such a lovely little lady, and despite the amount of time she spends with Waipo and Jiuma, always loves being with her daddy. We drove home, but no-one was in, so I rang Jiuma and she told us to come to her place in the centre. We did so and although Xixi loves to be on the bike, she was nearly asleep by the time we got there and barely holding on. I had no problem putting her in Jiuma's bed, and after giving her a goodnight kiss, got on the bike back to the KTV place. There were roars when I re-entered, not for any other reason than the roarers being plastered. I used my (true) excuse of being hungry to avoid playing too much cai ma, but that didn't stop the blokes all lining up to play me. They still love it when I win, which somewhat surprises me as as long as you can count in Cantonese with a Bangxu accent there's not much more to it.

By 10.30pm it was Leilei's time to be tired. I made my excuses to wails of disappointment but said I "should" be back a bit later after getting him to sleep. I called Tan and found she was on her way back too, so met her a couple of hundred yards from our place and let Leilei walk home with her and A Xia. I realised I hadn't got back to Brandy, so I gave him a call and he said he was in "Number 5" cafe. As luck would have it, this was not 50 yards from where I was. But Tan, A Xia and Leilei were walking in that direction so I had to sneakily snake behind them without them seeing me lest they suspect I might be going to have some fun.

I pulled up outside "Number 5" as Tan et al had just passed it, and sneaked inside before they could look behind them. Suddenly I heard a huge cheer and shouts of "Peng Duoming!!". The place was steaming and I found out it was the boss's birthday. Boss Yang and most other friends were there, but so was Brandy, and I gave him a big friendly hug as I hadn't seen him for so long. I sat next to him, although had been proffered other chairs by other friends, and explained that "hao jiu bu jian" (long time no see), to which Brandy replied: "miss you much", which suggests some of his English comes from crappy pop songs. Well, they did karaoke and there was plenty of food and drink. It was a good laugh and I got home well after 1am and went straight to bed.


Brandy, me and Number 5 Boss (Coffee?)