Going swimming

We all were up pretty late but even so didn't manage much in the way of breakfast; some youtiao and pancakes from the dou jiang place we usually go to. Then Tan said Lin Hong was taking us swimming after lunch. By "us" she meant the kids and me as she would stay with Waipo. I rang Lin Hong so that she'd have my new number and she said she'd be downstairs in 5 minutes which gave me that much time to get everything packed, including the factor 50 spray-on suncream. We needed to wait for Tan to bring something even though we were being told to hurry up. Then I noticed I'd forgotten Xixi's bag so I had to scurry back to get it for fear of having hell to pay. By the time I got back I realised it was lunchtime and the kids had hardly eaten...ah I guess we will eat there...

It turned out there were four cars in an entourage going to this place. When I asked how far it was I got the typically generic "not far" response I should have expected, and I knew better than to ask how many minutes as it would have been "not long". As it was it was under half an hour so pretty much not far or long. It was brimming with heat though so we sought the cover of shelter which turned out to be just about the only air-conditioned room. But all the people, around 20 with the median age around 50, just started eating fruit and talking. Leilei and Xixi, being the only kids, were not too interested in this and wanted to go swimming. "Too hot!" was the unanimous response.

But the alternative to swimming was staying in this room where they'd just brought in an electronic majiang table so I said despite the heat I'd take them out. They probably thought the equivalent of mad dogs and Englishmen but Lin Hong and Tian Tian allowed us to change into our swimming gear and I spent 5 minutes spraying the kids and myself all over with factor 50 before venturing into the intense heat of the outside. We weren't the only ones by the pool but it was by no means full. Shockingly, the water was really cold and it took Leilei and I a good 5 minutes just to submerge to the level of our balls whereas Xixi seemed impervious to the temperature. Finally I managed to get fully into the water but mainly because I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of the kids (or the other people - as I'm aware I'm a slight ambassador for the West). We managed nearly an hour before I'd had enough, and the kids decided to get out with me. There was no need for towels and when we got back to the room and changed we realised nothing had changed...all the people were either watching majiang or eating fruit. So we did the latter, and because the kids hadn't had lunch they gorged themselves on baby mangoes and yellowskin fruit as it was already gone 3pm.

The majiang game that was the focal point for much of the afternoon

Leilei got through loads of baby mangoes

Xixi trying to make a real unicorn

But they were getting fractious so I took them out to amuse them. We found a massive spiderweb suspended between two trees that was easily as tall as Leilei, but had no occupant other than a couple of leaves, and I explain how things in general grew bigger in hotter climes. Then Leilei used his laser to fox some puppies much to our amusement as he put it on the bone one of them was gnawing which caused a mini fight among them.

This was meant to be a pic of the spiderweb but it didn't come out - at least part of the swimming pool is in view

Finally, soon after 4pm, some servers started bringing food to the table. I wasn't sure if this was a late lunch or an early tea, but it turned out to be the latter as it took half an hour before the tables were full of food. Then other people started turning up too. I should have guessed "swimming" was more of an excuse for a meal. Even when the meal was set people continued watching majiang until Tian Tian and her friends were too hungry to continue and just started. That caused more people to start and we all sat down together to eat a fine meal. Only after the meal did a handful of the ladies go to the swimming pool but the kids were now bored and Lin Hong told A Zheng to take us home as the others would be chatting for a while. I was dropping off by the time we got there but it was too early to sleep so grabbed a coffee.

The hungry girls got the meal started 

On the way back the spider came out but the web wasn't picked up by the camera

View from car on way back

At 11pm I called Yang Haiwei to arrange to meet up some time and he said he was one hour away from Pingguo and that we'd meet up as soon as he was back. Maybe I shouldn't have called so late but sod it I'd make the effort. It wasn't till well after 12.30 that we met - just his family and his eldest son's mate, all awake after the drive back from Beihai. I spent most of the time communicating with the eldest son in English on his father's behest (to him, not me) and I didn't mind as I guess it's a sort of pay-back for all the stuff Haiwei has done for me if you want to see it in those terms. He (the eldest, now 16) was drinking beer and his mate too, and said sometimes he drank beer when he was nervous. I told him that was very wrong...it's ok to enjoy a couple with mates but you should face your fears, and I made sure he moved to water after his couple. Not sure how long that will work long term though. I don't know how all of them including the four year old, let alone me, made it to 3am but on the hour I told them I had to go and bade farewell, and somehow only fell asleep at 4am.