Off to the seaside but not quite into the sea for me

Up lateish and went for lunch with the kids when A Wu called at midday at a place just opposite our house. I asked when we were going to Beihai and he said after he'd had a sleep, and then left, saying we'd taken too long to come. As by now it was getting on for 1pm I guessed we wouldn't be leaving at 2. The kids ate most of the one portion I bought them to share, and I bought another to take back to Tan. 12 kuai for a full meal represents excellent value, and the portions were generous - I'll remember to come back here.

On the way to breakfast I saw this graffiti on the ledge by the lift - it says "HI Leilei" - I don't know who did it but I'll catch the blighter

I let Tan do the packing and just managed my own stuff like laptop, phone, and chargers. I called A Ni at 2.30 and a sleepy voice answered, and she said to come to the office at 3. Our suitcase wouldn't fit in A Wu's X6 so it went with Tan in A Dong's car, together with A Xia, their son Su Liyi, and Huang Xiaoyun. I found out we weren't going to Beihai, but another seaside town called Fang Cheng Gang, somewhat closer and apparently cleaner than Beihai. I was happy about the shorter distance, but not A Wu's horrible driving at speeds of sometimes over 100mph. I could tell that as his BMW I'm guessing was manufactured for the US market and only has km on the inside of the dial in smaller numbers. Although it's entirely feasible that A Wu hadn't worked that out yet.

Getting ready to go

After a couple of comfort breaks we got there before 7pm. We pulled up at a beach at sunset and there were still quite a few people there. But it was meal time so we ordered a load of the local produce, which meant prawns, crabs, eels etc. Tan warned me not to take any beer with seafood as it would provoke diarrhoea, but I had little desire anyway as I was still not feeling well. After the meal the kids went for a paddle but I wasn't up for it - I was wearing long trousers, shoes, and socks. Then when I realised it looked like fun I must have looked decidedly English so I got the keys to both cars and went to change.

Looking rather English

I found my shorts quickly enough, and changed into them in A Wu's X6 thanks to the tinted windows. But I couldn't fathom how to lock it. I tried double-clicking the fob, triple-clicking, holding it down for two seconds etc. The lights would flash in apparent recognition but every time I tested the doors they always relinquished and opened. Finally it dawned on me that it might be the proximity of the key fob that was allowing me to open the door. I didn't know how far away it might take effect so I put the fob a few feet away, and keeping my eye on it moved back to the car but it still opened. I then moved it about 15' away onto the bonnet of A Dong's Toyota, and looking around for any potential thieves, walked back to the X6 and finally the door kept shut. Lord knows what anyone watching me for those few minutes would have thought. Another one for the Mr Bean ideas library.

Typically, as I got to the water's edge in my shorts, ready to jump in, everyone else was leaving. Grrr. The kids went to get a cold shower even though we would soon be on our way to the hotel, and then we drove to the centre of Fang Cheng Gang for 25 minutes and met A Ni's little brother who lives there with his fiancée. We bought a melon, some grapes, and on Xixi's insistence, two peaches from a fruit market and went the the hotel the little brother had sorted for us. Our room was rather nice, but had two large single beds rather than two doubles.

We all descended on A Wu's and A Ni's room and gorged on melon and grapes for half an hour, while Tan took a shower. We watched a little women's volleyball and it happened to be China v Japan and China was losing, causing A Wu to pay some non-compliments to land of the rising sun. Finally got to bed and I stayed with Leilei as one bed wouldn't hold two adults. There was a bit of noise which annoyed Tan so she turned down the air conditioning, but that didn't seem to be the source. Then at 1am when I was dropping off, she rang the reception and asked if they were renovating the hotel because of the noise. I don't think that fixed anything. The attitude rarely does. It wasn't that bad anyway and maybe because I'm still not that well I did fall asleep soon after despite Leilei's elbows.