Jeez, at 6.30am Lin Hong called me and it was all I could do to pick up. Apparently I had to go over to hers shortly to be picked up for Bangxu. I somehow managed a shower and then A Zhong called me to ask where I was and I said I was on my way, and to be fair I got there just as he turned up with Lin Hong and the other friend who was one of the main comperes.
Well if yesterday was a full day this was in some ways fuller. But when we got to Bangxu it was the same old game of waiting around. I've done this so much in France but never in the UK. We're probably too efficient. Maybe we got there early so we could park the car. Fair enough. I did another tour of the village and there was even more cooking going on. It was getting on for 9am so A Zhong took me to the same place as yesterday for breakfast and this time I had a soupy fen rather than the flaccid penis-like one.
 |
| Dajie top left and Erjie 3rd on bottom having a photo opportunity...and yes I was grabbed to be in the next few... |
 |
| A procession of hundreds of Bangxu ladies in traditional garb. I think there were literally more people in the procession than watching |
I knew that today I wouldn't be one of the hosts; they wanted to let the young people do most of that. But I did have to sing The Boxer as one of the later events. So I was willing to have a couple of beers with lunch but today nothing turned up. We ate around one of the many outdoor tables that would be used for the main "evening" meal at 4pm in 3h30. Then I went to have tea at the same place as yesterday but some bloke said we'd go to a "proper" place to drink. This ended up being at the back of a general store, where the boss had a proper tea table and we enjoyed some pu er cha as you do. It was a slightly difficult conversation as I didn't know the bloke but pleasant all the same. I asked him if the tea had caffeine in it and unlike other people, he said nearly all tea had caffeine in it. I was quite grateful as was starting to flake, and went to excuse myself but he insisted on giving me a box of tea and a disk of sheng pu er cha.
I walked over to Waipo's old house and sat in the most comfortable chair I could find. I wanted to grab 40 winks but Erjie and friends were chatting, and the woman sitting on the bench behind me had her phone on quite high volume watching douyin videos. Despite this I tried my Spanish counting method and got up to 85 but just got stuck there. I knew I wasn't asleep but a moment later heard myself let out a loud snore. Is it possible to snore if you're conscious? Maybe I had dropped off for just a few seconds...I wish it had been minutes. But any chance of any more snoring vanished when A Zhong called me to eat tea. What? It wasn't yet 3.30pm but I knew better than to argue.
 |
| Some of the preparation for the feeding of the 2000 |
 |
| There were streets of huge frying pans like these...like they've done this before? |
Indeed, many people were already at table, some eating. But I decided to go for a walk first and bumped into a few people I now knew. I got invited to sit with Erjie but I knew A Zhong wanted me at his table and anyway it would be possible, no encouraged, to table-hop later. So I found A Zhong's table and ate with some more people I didn't know which was sort of the point. Of course they knew Tan or Erjie though. I was offered beer but I said I wouldn't drink alone. It's one of my few rules here (except for the occasions at home maybe before going out or pre-siesta). So a couple of minutes later a bloke arrived with a six pack of beer and I had no excuse not to partake any more.
Presently, another bloke turned up with more beer and I realised I needed to be a little careful. It was soon after 4pm and I reckoned I'd be on stage around 9pm. But then the table-hopping started in earnest for an hour or so during which I couldn't really avoid drinking. Then some of the Bangxu ladies across the road on a long table started singing and I noticed that Lin Hong was one of them. She caught my eye and beckoned me over, and I thought that would be a good idea as I wouldn't have to drink. How wrong I was. She beckoned to me to bring not just my glass but a can too. The ladies sang another Bangxu song and ended with a "woo!" as you do, followed by us all ganbeiing.
Then I was told to go to the side of the table that Lin Hong was on, which meant walking up around 30 metres to the end of where the tables had been set up and then back again. This time a bloke came with a pack of cans of Li Quan beer and one was thrust in my hand. There was more singing and drinking, and then they some sort of singing version of caima. Except after two rounds (of losing) I realised it was actually scissors, paper, stone. Regardless, I still lost, although with so many people playing I guess around two thirds of the people lose each round. Well it was great fun, and I realised people were filming so Tan would no doubt chastise me later. At least Lin Hong being there legitimised it somewhat.
A particularly drunk bloke then took me to tables to caima but I knew better than to get too involved. I may have had a couple of rounds, and nearly sat down at the table A Qiu was at, but was pulled away. Finally, it was getting towards the time of the second evening of entertainment at the wu tai. Not being a host, I didn't need to be backstage all the time, but I felt obliged to be there nonetheless. Indeed the order of acts had changed from what I had, and I was the second-to-last. So I sent some pictures of the day's happenings to Tan and she described them as "boring". What? This is the first ever such celebration in Bangxu and it was anything but!
I do admit to having a mild jing jiu and cola when it was getting closer to my time to perform, as my last beer had been over two hours ago. So with that it was back to the stage for The Boxer, for the umpteenth time this year. Although I'd had the foresight to detune the guitar by a semitone last night to make it a bit safer for the higher notes. I felt a bit bad at getting more applause than the excellent groups of dancers who had obviously been practising for months, but was also relieved to have finished.
A few minutes later and that was it for the inaugural Bangxu New Year festival. In my opinion a great success, though I was told there were currently no plans for another one. If there are, I'll do my best to be there unless Tan wants to be there instead. And with that a few minutes later we were back in the car heading home to Pingguo.
We got back around 10.30pm, I'd pinged Xiao Nong and she said to go to hers for a bite which I did until everyone had left around 1am. Then she said friends were at the loud disco place and against my better judgement I ended up going there with her and somehow didn't end up home till 5am. I am just too old for this!
No comments:
Post a Comment