I pretty much had to prise them out of their beds though to go to A Ni's new Vietnamese steak place. I ordered a steak and chips, not because I wanted to, but because A Ni suggested it and I wanted her to be happy. I also ordered some Vietnamese spring rolls so the kids would eat something. Despite not having had breakfast they didn't seem that hungry - Xixi didn't like the rolls so had some of my steak (which was actually quite good) and both of them had smoothies, as did I, fresh from the fruit. The total was 71 kuai, which considering what we had was pretty decent even for here.
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| They were not easy to rouse |
During the meal A Heng came with a new phone for Xixi that he'd promised yesterday. It looks like an iphone but is a cheap Android knock-off (and probably better too). She was very happy with her new toy and Leilei jealous. I had to remind him hers was a cheap one and his was real, plus he now had more time on the ipad. Neither of them have SIM cards though - there's enough wifi around now to make that not a problem. Unfortunately there's no Pokemon Go here either. I wonder if there ever will be as it uses Google Maps.
We got home and I left the kids playing as I was "kun le", meaning I immediately felt bloody knackered. So much for beating the jetlag - I lay down my head at 1.30pm and an instant later it was 2.30. I felt quite awake for no more than a couple of minutes before I was kun le again and it was 3.30. I decided that was quite enough of being kun le by then and got up. Er Jie was coming back from Nanning (I didn't know she'd gone) so we were to go to Waip's, as the kids say, to eat again. On the walk over I called Uncle Yellow to let him know I was in town again. He said we'd go to eat later and he'd call me - cool.
I didn't eat too much at Waip's, and neither did the kids, which was a bit worrying, but it's early days. Then Er Jie and her husband Lao Pang took us to see the expensive new house they bought recently. It was a good five miles outside the centre of Pingguo, and actually a very pleasant complex of houses, with many apparently having their own gardens, something I'd not seen in Guangxi till now. Her house is quite lavish by most standards, and we were told we could stay here if we liked as she was often out of town, and even if she wasn't there were enough rooms in the three-storey building. We politely declined, but said we'd bear it in mind. Our place pales in magnificence, but wins in terms of proximity in my opinion. Anyway, the main purpose of coming here from my perspective, and the kids', was to get the dian dong che.
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| View from the third floor to the patio on the second in Er Jie's new house on the outskirts of Pingguo |
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| Xixi practising taking photos on her new phone with a background of what the houses look like here - actually very tasteful but a pretty penny at around 1,000,000 kuai each |
I asked if it was charged up and of course was told it was. We got the keys and turned it on and it looked like it had around half a charge, though you can never be sure as when you accelerate the power meter goes down. And it had 875km on the clock, which means it had done around 600km since I left it last year - I'm glad it was used. We got on in the usual combination: Xixi at the front, me, then Leilei behind, and I was immediately glad that Chuan Chuan had exchanged the broken model in 2014 for a much bigger version, as we only just about fitted on the seat.
10 seconds after we set off we heard shouting from behind us - Tan and Er Jie were motioning to their right, and it became apparent we were going in the wrong direction. We went back but continued to make wrong turns and got lost in this complex for a good 10 minutes, me being the obstinate male and refusing to ask how to get out. But of course we did eventually. I was disappointed that the dian dong che only got up to 28kph and I suspected the battery was shot, but at least we had some wind in our hair to cool us down on the longish journey. We'd got half way before I remembered the damn thing had gears and as I pressed the button to move to 2 we accelerated quite sharply and Leilei remarked he was glad we had a rear case thing or he might have fallen off. By the time we got home the odometer read 885km - was Er Jie's house really 10km away?
At home Lao Su, A Xia's husband, called me about the hot water and said he'd be around in a bit to take a look. As far as I can tell there's no pressure, and I'm guessing an air block. He came around and told me it wasn't an airblock but the inlet to the heater was blocked - he'd sort it in the morning. Oh well, another cold shower tonight - first world problems (or maybe not). While letting Lao Su out I noticed a small white box where the tv would be if we had one. It had three green lights on it and I finally worked out where the "ZTE" SSID was emanating from - Ling Ming must have changed Internet provider and this was the new router. I traced the cable from the router (interestingly it wasn't your typical RJ45 connection) along the wall, outside the back of the flat, along the exterior wall where it entered the building again from the window by the lift. From inside the corridor I traced it along the wall past the lifts and into a metal box attached to the wall on the other side of the corridor, which I presumed must be a communications hub - probably a competitor to the service we had before. I would love to have asked more questions about this set-up, but thought better of it for the moment.
Then Uncle Yellow called to say we'd go to eat near Waipo's house, where we'd been once before. I said great, but I'd have to take the kids though as Tan was of course out. This time finding the location should be no problem as he'd send it via WeChat. Of course that didn't stop him calling us to ask where we were when we were in the supermarket. We'd just got some washing powder and fabric conditioner, and I'd looked in vain for fizzy water or indeed anything fizzy that wasn't sweet or alcoholic or Coke. I decided not to take the stuff home and to go straight to meet Uncle Yellow. The location he'd sent by WeChat was pretty cool, except it only showed a blue dot representing me and a red dot representing the destination - no other detail. I guessed the English version of WeChat was using Google Maps, and therefore had the Pokemon effect. Well at least we had something to work on - I got Xixi to hold my phone and tell me if we were getting hotter or colder as we drove about. Indeed going towards Waipo's was hotter, and we found the place with relative ease at the end of her road.
Rather than eating outside, Uncle Yellow had an air conditioned room on the first floor, with a couple of mates, one of whom was nearly as inebriated as Huang from last night, as he'd been drinking since teatime. Uncle Yellow ordered some really great food, but the best was the fried "insects" as it translates. More like beetles I would say. But gorgeously crunchy and full of protein. If indeed we need to take our protein in this form rather than beef and other animals that take a lot of energy to grow, then I'm certainly ok with it! The drunk bloke couldn't take his eyes of Xixi and repeatedly said how beautiful she was - "Leilei's handsome, but Xixi is so beautiful". It got a bit boring but after a few drinks even he quietened down and stopped drinking, or maybe it was because his wife and son arrived. I used the genuine excuse of needing to get the kids back to leave, and although wanted to simply couldn't finish the beetles. I wish the kids had had some though.
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| Xixi found three chopsticks in her chopstick pack and I told her it was the Chinese equivalent of finding a four leafed clover |
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| Lovely grubs! |
We actually went for a little drive around a slightly cooler Pingguo before going home, which pleased the kids as much as myself, but sleep beckoned. At least it did for me...they didn't sleep till 12.45am, and I followed not long after.
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