Meal with Haiwei and caima bisai!

Yet again I was up after little more than 4h30 minutes of sleep, but Awl was about so we had a chat and I stupidly had a couple of beers, during which I could hear the sound of little footsteps and then adult voices. Oh yes, Tan had called me last night to castigate me for using A Heng's wife's towel. Well I wasn't to know...it was just a towel...but apparently here that sort of thing is taken very personally. To be fair I have now found the towel I bought in the summer but it isn't as big as the one I used.... Anyway the family are back in the house and who knows for how long?

I had no particular reason to meet with them, so ended up getting back to sleep a couple of hours later. Then I woke to a banging at the door. I thought it was a dream but it persisted too long so I went to take a look and it was A Heng's wife. At least she didn't have a go at me for using her towel. It looked like the others were out now at least so I grabbed the rest of the chicken and duck from yesterday and wolfed it down. Well it had managed three meals at least so not bad for 30 kuai.

Haiwei had invited me to his mum's to speak English with his son this evening at 6.30pm so I hoped to get a couple of hours of shuteye in the afternoon but it wasn't to materialise. At least the others had gone out though so I went to grab a shower and of course had Haiwei leaving me a message to come over now and not in 30 minutes. Well it would have to wait, and when I did get there I wanted to pick up some fruit but could only find a bloke selling these huge things that I can't even name in English, so I picked up a half one for 110 kuai which I thought was a bit steep.

£13 for whatever this was seemed a bit steep

But anyway Haiwei was already at the main gate waiting for me so we went in and it was only four of us for once; his mum and his son and me. At least his son was a bit more talkative this time, so I'd justified my meal tonight. Earlier, Lin Hong had told me there was a caima competition tonight at the new place across the bridge, and she was to be dancing there, so I'd said I'd come, but knew plans could easily change. But at bang on 8pm she asked where I was so I told Haiwei I'd need to go, which mean finishing off only a third beer so I was a lot more sober than I'd have liked for a potential caima competition.

And when I got there I found it was in full swing, but Lin Hong said it wasn't too late for me to join so I wrote my Chinese name and phone number and within one minute I was called onto the stage. Shit, I had a pre-poured V&C in the back of the dian dong che but had no time for Dutch courage. Maybe that was a good thing, as I also had no time to worry. I leapt on stage and the bloke I had to battle broke into a massive grin when he saw who I was and just said "waiguoren!". Unfortunately for me it wasn't as simple as starting with "laiyouchek!" because the event was sponsored by Snowflake beer. So before caimai'ing we had to say ”雪花啤酒来酒来啊。。。“ but of course I screwed up the first time so I had to get the lady on stage to repeat what I needed to say. I managed it the second time but it knocked me off kilter a bit and I lost the first round. But at least I won the second to avoid a 3-0 defeat as my component won the next two to win 3-1. I "won" two cans for my efforts at least and when I got off-stage asked Lin Hong how much I should pay just for joining. Apparently nothing. Ok, I won't ask too many questions.

My first losing attempt

The winners of the rounds then went through to a knockout stage where they were placed in two teams each. By now I'd managed to sneak back to the dian dong che and sneak a bit of V&Cola. Not that I needed it but I thought there may be a chance I'd be asked back on stage.

But Lin Hong and her troupe put on a lovely dance and when they finished I guessed that was it for the evening. At least for those who had lost. But no! When the compere saw me leaving he pointed to me and said I had to come back on stage for a final battle! At least by now I was sort of ok with the idea, but I'd said I'd go and see Boss Zhou shortly. Anyway, I got back on stage (there were maybe between 100-200) people in the audience and sadly lost 3-0 to the next bloke. Then the compere started asking me a few questions on stage and I was happy I could understand them. I explained I was a "Bangxu guye" and I'd been coming to Pingguo for 21 years, and that Lin Hong was my Biao Jie and had just done a lovely dance. I think it went down ok, as I got applause from the audience. I also remembered to smile during the mini-interview, unlike a few days previously.

Lin Hong's dancing troupe

My prize for losing was a crate of Snowflake beer, which I made an effort to look surprised at, then accepted. If nothing else I'd held myself on stage, if not won, and come back with 16 cans of beer which I would take to Boss Zhou's place.

My second call onto stage and having to ask a few questions about why I was here

I really like Lin Hong. Outside of immediate family she really feels one of the closest. She seems to genuinely care about our wellbeing and therefore was understanding when I said I had to be somewhere else soon. Of course she told me not to drink to much and of course I told her I wouldn't, and of course I probably would...but it would only be 2.8% beer that I was taking there. She didn't seem to complain about me downing a can of the stuff on stage for losing!

I got to Boss Zhou's around 10pm I guess and they were in fine fettle. It was nice to be able to bring a crate of beers and we actually got into it as well as some blokes moved from the baijiu to something weaker.

Enjoying a bite to eat at Boss Zhou's chamber of commerce

But when Li Kun asked me to go to Xiao Bai de Tian I thought that was a much better alternative...not a sausagefest at least. So I told A Wu I'd pop out and he said they'd also pop out and I should meet them soon in the bar I'd been in with Li Kun the other week. Oh, it was going to be one of those evenings...and why not!?

So I met up with Li Kun at Xiao Bai de Tian's and after an hour I guess I'd had enough to fulfil the promise I'd made to Xiao Bai that I'd sing a Chinese song. Despite the fact that Leilei had appropriated my guitar in the UK, I'd managed enough practice here that my callouses were starting to come back. Not enough, but more importantly I'd been practising the line “早习惯穿梭充满诱惑的黑夜”, which has been a bugbear for me. But knowing I mightn't come back here any time soon, after a toilet break I sat on the stage and brought out the lyrics.

You can't avoid seeing eight people filming you while singing, but you can sort of ignore them if you get into it. I hope it was ok. I then was asked to do some English songs so did the usual S&G ones and it seemed appreciated. Then I did go to see A Wu and mates but was getting late and I didn't fancy getting on the stage there so just stayed half an hour before checking with Li Kun if he was still at Xiao Bai de Tian's at 1.30am. Indeed he was, so I headed back there for only half an hour or so, enough time to meet some more people, one of whom was a women of not yet 20 years old. Jeez...she's not that much older than Xixi, and I ganbeid with her.

With the owners of the joint enjoying a last beer

It wasn't much longer that I got back around 2am and got to sleep pronto. But another really full day which is one of the main reasons I come here.