Leeches, Expensive Flower Tea, and a bit of TT

I woke up at 7am with pain and a hangover. Waipo caught me going to the loo and noted I was up early but I told her I needed some more kip and went back to bed. Until 8am when Ma Laoban pinged me to see if I was up. I said honestly that I was, but that we’d meet up later if ok, which it was.

So a shower (phew) later I took the bike to where I thought his shop was but obviously got it wrong when I didn’t recognise anyone inside. They were friendly enough to wave me along down the road to where Ma Laoban’s shop was, where he met me laughing.

I got in his 4x4 Toyota and three other blokes went with us to a place near the massage place. The meal was fine of course, then two of the blokes left to go and sleep, leaving the other one, Ma Si. We had no chance of finishing the food so left, but went with Ma Si to his home village a few kms outside Pingguo.

Judging by his nice, black BMW X6, he was rather well-to-do, though came across as a thoroughly down-to-earth bloke. He moaned about the running costs of the car, how services were 4000 kuai and had to be done multiple times a year due to his high mileage. Not to mention the various speeding fines he seems to routinely get.

We drove for some 20 minutes to the outer reaches of Pingguo, and finally stopped at a seemingly nondescript mud track off the tiny road. Ma Si must have thought my Chinese was better than I did as he talked to me quickly and in vocabulary that would stretch a local (I hoped). We walked down the muddy path, umbrellas in hand as the clouds were leaking an almost English-like moisture without it pelting down. Then we stopped at a pond. This was a special pond I found out a minute later when Ma Laoban dipped a stick in and a moment later brought it out with a couple of leeches clinging on to it. He rather clumsily managed to put one in his water bottle so I could examine the way it mostly used its suckers on the front and rear to move about and generally show it was angry.

A leech from the pond

Ma Si's X6 and the background

It took quite a lot of time but eventually I learnt that because exporting these valuable leeches would be too troublesome (I don’t doubt it as they could have blood in them), they were interested in drying them and exporting the crushed remains as some sort of medicine that was very good for the blood! But I didn’t have time to dwell on this as soon we were off again to somewhere else.

Next we ended up at a rather lovely house, overlooking a deep valley of green. I understood it was Ma Si’s house. He started talking about some amazing tea that only grew here, and was very expensive. Then he explained that he owned just about all the land that this specific tea grew in. As I walked under the rain to get a good view of my surroundings, and I did rather like it, a senior woman walked in, and Ma Si announced her as his mum.

Well after a perfunctory shake of hands I didn’t see her again, but that was the cue to sit down at a table and have some of this special tea. I was told more than once that a small bag of 200 grammes of this would set you back 500kuai. So it was of little surprise he brought out a fresh bag of it to let us drink.

It was actually really really nice. Slightly fruity, slightly sweet. I explained that the first time I’d drunk pu er cha I didn’t sleep till 5am and he said he had the same thing, and that he only drank this tea. So after 20 mins of this I was as pleased as punch that he put a few fistfulls of the said brew into a bag and gave one to me and one to Ma Laoban. Apparently 50 quids worth in each. I highly doubt it, but look forward to bringing it back to blighty for a unique taste.

We then moved on to see his farm…. Well I got a good tour of chickens, pigs, ducks, and the like, and smelled various stenches. In fact Ma Si bade me smell the difference between two different types of pigs, and told me one lot stank and the others didn’t. I couldn’t really tell but really did try and said I thought there was some difference. Apparently one lot (the non-smelly) were worth a lot more than the others. I wondered if washing the others would increase their worth but at this point, as I was rather tired, I decided not to ask.

But it was a genuinely fascinating tour of the farm and I learnt more about this business in Guangxi than I have ever done in the previous 12 years. The tour culminated in Ma Si presenting me a gift that is traditional in his part of the world - something that will protect you on your return journey - two live chickens. I was very appreciative (again, genuinely), and received them honourably, though I had no idea what to do with them.

Me and Ma Laoban at Ma Si's house

Some non-smelly pigs

Ma Si, Ma Laoban, and me

Well, it wasn’t that hard really. We eventually started on the way back to central Pingguo after our rural excursions, a bit too late though for a siesta. As Ma Si dropped us off at Ma Laoban’s shop not much before 5pm, and we bade our thanks and farewells, I mentioned to Ma Laoban that I hadn’t expected that. He answered that he hadn’t either, and had rather hoped for a siesta himself. It was good to know that I was not the only one, but better to have had the experience I did this afternoon.

Ma Laoban gave me a lift to Waipo’s where she asked me to eat tea but I had to explain I’d been invited to eat by Chen. I knew I’d disappointed her a little but she seemed to perk up when I had the good idea of offering her the two chickens from Ma Si, though she did ask why I didn’t want to take them back to the UK.

As I’d managed to get out of tea at Waipo’s and had 90 minutes to kill before Chen’s, I took the dian dong che to the massage place as my back was still playing up. I admit to having a wee beer accompany me on the way, and maybe one as I had a shower before. Oh but the massage was great, and made me feel less guilty about anything I may have been normally feeling guilty about at the time. Despite the advice of A Wu to put his name down for any massages there I once again paid up front as it was well and truly worth it.

I even felt more invigorated as I skimmed to Chen’s, only a little late at 6.30ish. It was at his apartment with his wife and son. As soon as I entered his son of about 10 years old was overcome by excitement and wanted to do anything to interact with me in a way that might have been considered strange outside of the context. I was happy to shake hands with the boy and play with his toys and talk to him for quite a few minutes until the parents insisted I come to table with them and the blokes. Ah yes...the blokes from the karaoke the other night, together with the one with the Christmas Tree company. But tonight they were different. No, they were just not drunk. Really nice blokes in fact, and the whole meal was tremendously enjoyable as a family/friends thing. And yes we drank beer. But it seems that in such surrounding blokes don’t get stupidly pissed and that I appreciated. Apparently the wife knew Tan as she used to have a clothes shop in the same road as Lao Ma, and apparently I’d been there in 2014 when she adjusted some of Tan’s clothes. Well silly me for not remembering.

I left at 9pm to meet Yang Haiwei for some table tennis at the new, more professional place, but not before going for a refreshing watermelon juice at a place near A Wu’s old office. It was great to catch up with the young girls there who I remembered from when they were toddlers a few years ago! There was a new girl at the table tennis place, too young for the old people’s leisure centre by about 40 years no doubt and I had to play her. I let her win 12-10 12-10. At least that’s what I believed.

The young ladies (two of them ex-toddlers) at the juice place

From July 2011 - I think left and right are the same but not middle

Yang Haiwei in good form at the new table tennis place

 
Then finally, as I was really flaking, I went to meet A Wu in some coffee place by the river. I remember waiting for some time before he came to pick me up. But I was so tired I barely remember playing caima. Probably the first time I got to bed before midnight.