It was a good idea to do the Last Supper last night as tonight we had to head to Nanning to stay at a cheap hotel in order not to have any stress tomorrow getting the flight. Not to mention it was just the kids and me. But first there were some things to do, like feed the blighters. So, sadly for the last time this year I took them to get some jiao zi and bao zi from our local shop, and thanked the woman and said we’d look forward to coming back next year, not sure how much the kids might be looking forward to it.
An important picture that I should remember in order not to bring back too many toiletries next time
Visiting Waipo for the last time I was a bit shocked to see Er Jie had bought a new tv and simply stuck it in front of the old one - I could do with that!
Note to self - see if I can get the smaller tv next time...
Sooner than we thought evening came around so I decided to take the kids to Boss Zhou’s for something decent. He was happy to see us and I ordered some “normal” pork with rice and some jiu gui yumi. While we were waiting we spotted a delightful grey kitten/cat that responded to the kids’ lasers as you might expect, which made waiting for the meal that much quicker. Afterwards the woman only asked for 20 kuai, which I felt was too low, so I remonstrated with her and after a while she came back to me saying 50 would be ok - it was like something out of Monty Python.
Lovely last meal at Boss Zhou's
Cute kitten that couldn't resist lasers
Trying to make sense out of this but I think it's how much we owe for water, despite there being a character for electricity (Tan says)
As per every last day for the last few years I entertained the thought of going for a massage but there was a supermarket trip to make and other boring stuff like packing that got in the way. I had tried to insist that the three of us get a train to Nanning, where the hotel was a five minute walk away from the train station, but Tan and her cousin told us that was a rubbish idea and we’d never get the luggage on board, and insisted that A Heng drive us. Oh bloody hell I really wanted to argue but knew it would be futile, so rather than a 7.30pm train we were picked up at 6.30pm by A Heng and a mate in the old people carrier we’d been used to for the last few years.
Just outside of Pingguo was a urinal for "special children" - well that was something we wouldn't have got on the train I suppose
What ensued was the most annoying journey ever. Well at least we weren’t due to arrive at the airport any time soon. The drive to Nanning was ok but as soon as we arrived A Heng got lost. Worse than that, I had the map on my phone and tried to show him where to go but out of pride (?) he would not look. Which meant he got lost again and again, and with Nanning being the metropolis it is now it meant being stuck in traffic jams that wouldn’t apply to trains. Jeez, by the time we finally arrived at the hotel it was nearly 10pm, and the train would have got there by 8. I shouldn’t be angry - they were trying to help I suppose - but it was the most frustrating moment of the whole summer - next time I will just take the train and not tell anyone.
What was nice was that the hotel was the same as one I’d taken a few weeks earlier to go to Canada, and the receptionist spoke Mandarin to me, and as I’d been before I pretended I understood every word as I knew where the lifts were and there wasn’t much more new information he could give me. So as soon as we were up and dumped the bags we set off in search of our last bbq for 2018. It took no more than 10 minutes to find a suitable place on the road, and I got the kids to eat a bit at least while I managed a quick beer. We got back at close to midnight and I was still bloody annoyed about the lift we had as otherwise we would have got the chance to go to Zhong Shan Lu and experienced proper Nanning bbq.
Finally enjoying a bit of bbq on the last night in Nanning
There were two single beds so I got the kids together and apologised, but luckily they were too tired to argue. I had to do an hour’s work while they fell asleep, then organise baggage as we would be up in four and a half hours’ time. Not complaining any more though.
And finally sleep while I spent some time working...
No comments:
Post a Comment