At midday I took Leilei to A Hua's shop where Tan and the ladies were mulching the hours away chatting as you do. It so happened there was some food so I left him there while I went 50 yards down the road to the tea shop I have known well for two or three years. I really like this place and I feel comfortable here, although have not spent enough time here this year. But the boss knows me pretty well so we enjoyed a few glasses of Tie Guan Yin tea until Leilei had finished his lunch and came to join us. There were a couple of woman around the tea table, and they appreciated Leilei's company, despite him hardly talking to them, and they asked me to bring Xixi too. So I said I'd have a look for her, and dropped off Leilei to play with Qiqi at home. The two of them then went off to "Yi Xiao", which is Leilei's favourite place, being a cheap toyshop not far from Jiuma's place.
I took the electric bike down to where Xixi normally is, but there were just a couple of aunties there telling me she'd gone out with Jiuma but was around "somewhere". Well, I wasn't worried; here is the safest place I've ever been to with the kids. So, in the baking sun I took the bike out once more to have a look around. As it was near the end of our stay this year I took a little film of the journey, where I did in fact bump into Xixi (not literally).
A Short Ride in Pingguo Where I met Xixi Quite by Chance
I prised her from Jiuma and some other woman. Actually, as soon as she saw me she jumped onto the bike, so I told them we'd be out for 20 minutes or so, and we went on our way towards the tea place again. Well, we got most of the way but after five minutes I simply lost power on the bike. There was nothing obviously wrong, except the speedometer went up to the max 60kph for the only time in its life, but we limped to a stop at the crossroads. So we walked it to the pavement and parked it with some other bikes and walked to the tea shop, by which time there were no women left, only a couple of blokes, so we had a couple of cups of tea before leaving back to Jiuma's place.
Once there I felt rather naked without the electric bike. I realised I'd been counting on it like I would my boxer shorts. So I thought I'd better give A Wu a ring to tell him. It took a bit of time but we eventually sorted out that the bike was broken, and roughly where it was, and I met him there a few minutes later. We then drove to the place that sold electric bikes, where we found in a backstreet behind, surprise surprise, a place that fixed them. I described the problem, and they followed A Wu and me in the car on their bike, with a tow rope. It transpired that they did indeed need this to take it back to the garage. We exchanged phone numbers and I walked back to our place under the afternoon sun, simply as I knew I wouldn't have this chance for some time.
Enjoying a cup of tea at my favourite place in Pingguo
And, not an hour later I received a call from the garage place to say the bike had been fixed. Great! I got on a san lun che and even paid the driver 3 kuai instead of 2 when we arrived five minutes later. I asked what was wrong with the electric bike and they explained that it was something "electrical" (no shit, Sherlock), but did show me the piece that had blown and been replaced. I'd brought 500 kuai with me as I had no idea how much it might have been for the diagnostics, the tow back to the garage, and the fix. The bloke only wanted 5 kuai. 50p! I even tried to tip him by giving him 10 kuai and not wanting change but they forced the 5 kuai change upon me. Something that is so typical here.
Roll on the evening, and I popped into A Wu's office to tell him the good news about the electric bike. He had just taken delivery of two jade stones set in plynths a bit like statues. Apparently one was worth 30,000 kuai. Well, he was pretty proud, and wanted to take a couple of photos. I then told him that I wanted to invite my mates out, as is my custom, before I was to leave Pingguo again, and said we planned to go to the seafood place, but first go to our new place for some tea.
Looking serious at A Wu's office with the new jade on the left hand side
A Wu said he'd come for the meal as he'd already seen the house, so I went to prepare stuff there with Leilei at around 6.30. I'd invited our American friend and his youngest daughter, as his wife was out of town with their eldest two, plus Ma Laoban, who is a bit of a tea connoisseur as he doesn't drink. They arrived at the same time, and we enjoyed an hour or so chatting about computers, as Ma Laoban's shop sells them and our American friend uses them, and other stuff. We wrapped up the tea drinking by 7.30pm and I took the American daughter with Leilei on the electric bike, and Ma Laoban took the dad on his motorbike to the seafood place.
A Wu turned up, followed by Li Kun and some other mates, and soon there were ten or so of us around the table. For weeks the seafood boss and his wife had been asking me to take the kids there, and although Leilei was there having fun with the American, Xixi was at home. So I popped back and took her back to the meal, much to the delight of all at the table (and indeed all tables around). She and Leilei and the American daughter got on really well. So much so that the dad and I, and everyone else left them to get on by themselves as we gourged on prawns and langoustines and other stuff I don't even know how to say in English.
It was only half an hour later when we realised we hadn't heard much from our kids, so we set out on separate paths to find them. It took a few minutes but we needn't have worried, as I eventually found them running around near the guangchang. As it was nearly 9pm I took Xixi back and easily to sleep, and then Leilei half an hour later when the Americans left for the night. Despite my fatigue, we lasted till getting on till midnight before I rang Hongping to see if he was around. Indeed he was at a table just a few feet away, so Lu Hai and I moved on to have a couple of beers with him, till we finally left some time not long after 1am.
A very enjoyable night with friends at the seafood place
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