Last supper at the cool cave

The end is nigh. My other life has but a few days before it is extinguished for at least another year. I am gutted. But I'm blooming well going to invite my mates out for an evening with the lads. In true Pingguo style I waited until midday before ringing up A Wu, Uncle Yellow, Li Kun, Zhang Hongping and some others and inviting them to an evening out. I had decided on the Cool Cave - the place that Uncle Yellow had taken me to seven weeks ago. Interestingly, everyone I called answered and said they'd be there. Being Chinese, I knew I had to get there before the 6.30pm time I'd set. Luckily, I'd managed a quick siesta and picked up the kids from school and dumped them off so I was in good time. I had to stop off at the bank to get some cash out - something I've done for years without major problems. But today the bank ATM only seemed to want to give me 800 kuai. I tried to withdraw more and it decided to churn and churn before spitting out a message in Chinese to the effect that it was screwed. Luckily it gave me back my card. But I was concerned as I needed to pay for tonight, not to mention paying Lin Hong back for house stuff...

Waiting to eat at the Cool Cave

I didn't have time to worry though as as soon as (three "as"'s in four words - result) I got to the eating place by the cave I saw there was already A Wu and Boss Hu (Hu'me I hadn't actually invited), plus A Dong and a couple of others. Apparently I was late. Anyway, we walked up to the cave entrance. A Wu couldn't stop himself complaining about the place - how smelly it was, how dirty it was etc, but I knew he was just playing a game. In the ensuing quarter of an hour all the rest of my invitees arrived in good spirits and we sat down to be served with beers and promises that the food was on its way.

Enjoying the wait with a manly beer

And wasn't it worth the wait? We had a couple of platters of fried tiny prawns that you eat with the shells on, as many as you can get on a pair of chopsticks. That was followed by some sublime meaty thing that was gone within seconds. I ordered more of the same and everything was gulped down, as was the beer and the 10-12 of us had a better time than I could have hoped for. It was a truly blokeish evening. When the cook's wife came up with some friends to eat at the tables beside us we went over to pay our regards and raise a couple of glasses to them. Definitely one of my favourite Pingguo evenings!

One of my favourite evenings - good memories

I went to pay at around 9.30 and it was only 300 kuai. I had been expecting, but not hoping for, double that. I'd even borrowed 400 kuai from A Wu just in case. I decided to give an extra couple of hundred kuai to the chef as others would be staying after I left and I wanted to cover their beers.

At 10 o'clock ish we left and I had a call from Tan. She was eating zhou at the usual place near our house and I came to say hello but I was feeling the effects from the night so I took the kids home and bathed them and got them to bed before doing much the same to myself.