Up at a leisurely 11ish and faffed about for a bit before deciding to have a quick bite and go for a walk. I probably shouldn't have finished off that V&Lemonade I'd poured last night but hey I'm on holiday. I brought a bit of jing jiu and cola with me to take advantage of what may be the last short-sleeve weather for a while. My mini-goal was to get my black jeans fixed as one of the belt holder things had broken. It was more an excuse for a walk than a goal in itself, and as I walked towards the market I passed by the shoe-cleaners but my Cons were still not ready due to New Year business.
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| I wish I could fall asleep like this...I think these are people waiting to be picked up to work |
At the market I saw some people preparing to inflate some sort of giant green inflatable. I was about to ask when a woman who recognised me shouted at me to come back at 5pm to drink red wine. Ok, I might just do. I found a seamstress, or should it be seamster? No, in fact it seams "seamstress" can refer to either gender who sews or mends clothes. Well she took my trousers and told me to come back in "a while", so I had time to have a gander at the various market wares, and indeed 20 minutes later they were fixed and she wouldn't accept any payment for it. But luckily these days you can't really stop someone scanning your QR code so I managed to send 5 kuai anyway.
Back home I had a few more sips of jing jiu and cola and promptly fell asleep before 4pm. When I woke up it was 5.20pm so I forced a shower and went out to the market again to see what this "red wine" place was up to. Well, not much it appeared. The green inflatable thing was up, and people were busy patching it. It appeared to be not much more than a large, inflatable gazebo, and underneath it was a bloke with a large portable speaker. He motioned to a chair and I sat down with him and chatted for a few minutes. There was definitely no food or drink visible...so much for a 5pm start! Then Li Kun rang me to invite me to eat out and that certainly seemed a better option.
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| The big green inflatable |
He said he'd be at the place we ate with his and my families last year, so I slowly made my way there weaving through various streets as I knew he'd be a fair few minutes. But half an hour later I was having my doubts about whether he had really invited me tonight, so called him to see he'd just pinged me to say he'd arrived. So I got to table 12A and for once his eldest, Eva, was there at the table. Of course it was a fine meal, and another one with no beer for another nice change.
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| Dry meal while being entertained with some live music |
Li Kun asked me how I got here and I said on foot as the weather was fine...not too hot and not too cold. He agreed, and for probably the first time in years he and I actually walked back to his office leaving his wife and kids to take a taxi. I was explaining how nice walking actually is, and that it's a form of exercise too. He agreed, but said not to walk more than 10,000 steps a day as it's not good for your knees. I started to argue that running would be much worse but thought better than to continue. On the way to his office he bumped into a mate he hadn't seen for 10 years who had just opened a new bbq shop, so said he'd be back to eat there soon. And then another mate he hadn't seen in a while. These two chance encounters alone justified the walk in my opinion.
Also, on the way back we passed the music shop where I'd bought my new guitar strings the other week. I asked Li Kun if they had pianos there but he said not but he asked anyway and in fact they did. We were led upstairs to a room with five very out-of-tune uprights and a baby grand. Well I was now sober but couldn't resist a rendition of Maple Leaf Rag, and then a bit of Mozart's Sonata kv304 that I've been learning recently in an attempt to accompany Tan on the violin. It's by far the most complicated piece I've attempted and I've probably bitten off more than I can chew but I relish the challenge, and even if I never master it it will have made me a better pianist. I think it was the first time Li Kun had seen me tickle the ivories and maybe he was a little impressed. We left understanding that I could come back to practise for 15 kuai an hour. I resolved to do so tomorrow.
At the office, the small bloke was there drinking tea alone. I need to ask more about him. His name for a start, and whether he's simply a mate or does he look after the place while Li Kun is away? Anyway we drank tea for half an hour before the small bloke brought out a pack of beers and poured himself one. I rather expected him to pour us one too but 5 minutes later I said I wouldn't sleep if I drank more tea (it was getting on for 10pm) and please to have two glasses. Li Kun thought I meant I wanted to drink two glasses of beer and laughed and said "no!" 20 glasses at least. I tried to explain I wanted two beer glasses so we could both have a drink but he clung on to his interpretation and found it funnier than I did....
Half an hour later or so Li Kun said some people were expecting us at Xiao Bai de Tian. Ok why not? It's sort of become the nearest thing to a local since early November last year. We walked up to our house where I picked up my red hoody lest it get colder, and we took my dian dong che for the 2-4 minute ride depending on the state of the traffic lights. There were more people there than usual, and a table of them invited me over to...yes cai ma of course. And of course one of them was from Bangxu and probably knew Tan's Erjie. So after 15 minutes of cai ma'ing every bloke except one who apparently couldn't, I joined Li Kun at his table where we were joined by the owner and another bloke for some peanuts and spicy edamame beans.
Within half an hour Nong pinged me to say they were in Miss You KTV with a foreigner. Oh no! I know I'm not the only one but I haven't seen another for ages. Well I couldn't really leave Xiao Bai de Tian so soon after arriving but I did tell Li Kun I'd go over there in a bit. During that musical meal that Nong had invited me to, Li Kun was also there, but I'd not introduced them (although I did introduce her to Huang Lei). Li Kun said he wouldn't go with me and I didn't try to hard to persuade him. Nong kept telling to me to hurry up, so eventually at getting on for half past midnight I left with Li Kun as he had changed his mind and wanted to go to (maybe a couple of beers helped change his mind).
There were still about 7-8 people there when we got there and indeed there was the foreigner. He was from Afghanistan and a really decent bloke. It was slightly surreal to be speaking in Mandarin with him, but I was quite glad he was happy to knock back a couple of beers with me. Apparently his girlfriend is just opening a shop in Pingguo which is why he is here, but he's based in Nanning. Phew.
Of course I had to perform, so Pengyou was put on for me. Then for old times‘ sake I did "No Matter What" for the first time in years. Li Kun joined in with the fun and sang a couple of songs too, and a merry time was had by all till we left at getting on for 2.30am. Nong pinged me a bit later to check I'd got back ok, and to say she liked my friend Li Kun. So all in all a rather successful evening.
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