This time instead of using existing smelly three-finger gloves we bought new ones that we hope to use in the UK the next time we ever go to a snooker hall. Probably not a good idea to use them in a pub as their gimp-like nature may suggest something rather inappropriate. Awl had brought a little tipple with him and as by now we'd been here nearly an hour and it was gone midday (and I was eyeing a siesta) I decided to join him but found that they had no beer in the snooker hall fridge for the first time since I'd been going there the last three years. As Awl was enjoying himself on the fast table I nipped back home to replenish his supplies and to configure my own. This was not the first time my Calvin Klein cool bag had come in handy, as I managed to fit a can of Moutai beer along with some G and V ready mixed in bottles. I would have been no more than 10 mins but this time the lift took ages to come. Normally I don't mind waiting as I like the view from our floor but Awl probably didn't appreciate that.
 |
| We glove pool |
But I got back via the scorching road and into the dark, air-conditioned interior where we were no longer the only people playing. We played another good hour and I mainly won but we both found it very enjoyable thanks partly to the drinks and partly that no-one was there cosseting us or asking when we'd be back or telling us to hurry up. We did leave some time after 1pm and I didn't have too much difficulty falling into a siesta.
But when I got up around 4pm I found Awl hadn't had that luxury. Fair enough he'd gone to bed earlier than me last night and had a few hours' more kip. He had cleaned up the living room though, which was very thoughtful of him, though apparently maybe slightly powered by more DVDC. We'd been invited out to a boss meal again but unfortunately Awl had some work stuff to attend to - an occupational hazard I've known more than a few times here. So I went for the meal with Huang Laoban. Wow - the table was huge and I wished Awl was around to see. I also wished Tan and/or the kids were there too. In fact just a few more people would have done. As it was, we just about had more than half the 25 seats filled. The food was great and I was pretty much the only one who opted for beer instead of wine, so stayed far more sobererer than the rest.
 |
| Boss Huang's sumptuous meal |
But still unsober enough to not want to force down more beer so I excused myself, which was a lot easier given the inebriation level of my fellow diners, and went for a little walk around the hotel. It was rather quiet so I opened a few doors I shouldn't have before happening upon a room at least twice the size of the one I was dining in, resplendent with a table that I estimated must have sat 45 people around. The fake grass, covering all the top except for a perimeter defined by the reach of one's hands plus a few inches for chopsticks, made it look a little like a golf green, or rather a crazy-golf green with a feature in the middle that probably housed the hole. There were a few fu wu yuan women there and I guessed they were preparing for the morrow rather than tidying up this evening's mess as it was spotless.
 |
| A golf green come table |
When I got back to boss Huang's room I was told we had to go to another boss's sing-song to celebrate the fact that he had just bought a new car (a VW Touran, black of course). I got in contact with Awl and he was now ok to come along so we picked him up, albehim slightly the worse for wear, and brought him to some KTV bar I'd never been to before. I had bad vibrations early on as while waiting downstairs there were some girls smoking (looking back that feels slightly sexist). After a few minutes we went with A Wu to some room which was filled with smoke and about 30 young men from teens to mid-twenties if that. It was a horrible state of affairs with these drunken wannabe mafioso doing lines of some crap called kai fen I think. There were two women of good looks but dubious morals that probably were there to encourage drinking but even they seemed fed up with what was going on and were sitting smoking until they saw us at which time they did a couple of gan beis.
 |
| Awl being polite to one of the two girls in the room |
We had no interest in staying a moment longer than necessary so we found the main man and gan bei'd a couple of times and then made our excuses and left with A Wu. As it was Awl's last night and it was already getting on for midnight we drove to the Ming Dien hotel and ordered a lovely foot wash/massage. This is what we should have been spending more time doing here in Pingguo. It was luxurious and lovely, and 90 minutes for 70 kuai each and I was happy to pay for all. Awl went for a venture to see what shouldn't be seen on the 12th floor and I did pop up to see if he was going to stay or come back. In the end I left him there as I had no matter there, and got a san lun che back home. 15 minutes later I got a call from him and he'd come back too, driven by A Wu. It was getting on for 2am so no further merriment was made, and I tried not to wake up Tan as I retired for the night, a good deal sobererer than I could have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment