Up at an ungodly hour of course and was actually quite hungry. I looked around and found the pack of whatever it was I bought yesterday. I only bought it because it came with a free bowl, so now I have three bowls I need to take back with me. There were three or four choices...daddy, mummy, baby...maybe another one. So I got the daddy one so I could have my own bowl, but I'm now thinking I'd better get a mummy one for Tan too. And then maybe a couple for the kids, not that they'll care. Anyway I opened one of the packs in the bowl, literally not knowing what to expect as I couldn't read the Chinese on the packet. It turned out to be some sort of picked veg. Oh well, it was something like 7am and I was hungry so ate a pack as you do.
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| A "daddy" bowl with pickles |
I was still feeling a bit shit though so allowed myself a tad of medicine alcohol before slumbering away from 9am till 2pm in a form of siesta that really requires a different name...pre-esta? But it did the job and I must have needed it. That meant I'd had getting on for 10 hours' sleep in the last 12 hours. Result. I knew I was due to eat with Huang Lei tonight and guessed it would be around 6pm so around 4pm I went for a constitutional as it's a bit milder now and it's nice to go out without a coat.
I ended up at Xixi's and my favourite watering hole by a mini guangchang and the owner recognised me strangely enough. I sent a pic to Xixi and she asked for a watermelon juice but at this time of year they don't have it so we settled for a mango juice which we virtually shared as I sat in the remaining warmth of this little park that has given me big memories. Again, sometimes the simple things in life can be appreciated when you have the chance, and a relatively warm afternoon supping mango juice on a park bench in Pingguo is surely one of them.
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| Xixi's and my favourite watering hole |
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| Mango in the afternoon |
But it couldn't last of course...I'd be called soon and hadn't showered or shaved so headed back home via the shoe cleaning place to pick up my yellow Converse which may be the only pair of shoes I'll be bringing back with me. And of course Huang Lei called me. Actually I'd already missed a call and a dingwei from him to say where they were and to hurry up of course. I told him I was on my way home and would be there asap.
Once with my newly cleaned shoes (I wish they had this service for cheap in the UK) and back home, I realised that at well gone 6pm it was a bit late to have a shower and shave, and didn't want to be too late. So I decided to wear last night's smoky clothes as no doubt there would be more smoke tonight. I grabbed the dian dong che and went to where I thought we were eating as I remembered there was a shop selling fruit downstairs. So I popped in the shop and asked what fruit they had and the owner said they were nearly running out of cherries, except she used another word from ying tao, suggesting that these were even better. At £6 a kilo I hoped she was right. Well the box came to over £7 but who was I to complain? Then I saw a missed call from Huang Lei and checked the dingwei but I wasn't at the right place at all, so told him I was on my way and I'd be there in 3 minutes.
And indeed when I did arrive at the place I'd taken the kids in the summer a woman arrived at exactly the same time with a box of flowers in her dian dong che. Hmm...Huang Lei was also waiting outside so we walked up together and I found loads of bunches of flowers and Huang Lei then announced to me that it was Xiao Chong's (his wife's) birthday. Blimey if only he'd told me before! Anyway, my gift of cherries was appreciated and I was just glad I hadn't turned up empty-handed as I would have done in a previous year.
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| Xiao Chong's birthday meal |
In typical Guangxi style one half of the table was men, and the other half women, and more typical than that it was all luscious, including the raw cock balls that we cooked in the huoguo. Li Kun pinged me to meet for a beer at the new bar I'd gone to a couple of weeks ago but I told Huang Lei I wouldn't leave early. My choice of using yesterday's clothes proved to be a good one as I was literally the only male not smoking, and one of only two drinking beer, until the bloke next to me started on the red wine he'd already opened thinking the women would drink it. But every one of the women was drinking water only, saying they were on medicine. I thought about asking if they had synchronised, but even after a few beers thought better than actually asking the question. It was really nice that towards the end of the meal Huang Lei said "let's put out the grapes that Peng Duoming brought", and indeed they did and everyone partook of them. As I hadn't known about her birthday I said that although flowers looked prettier, you couldn't eat them!
Well, the women left, then Xiao Chong's younger brother turned up to help finish off the food, and finally at around 10.30pm things were petering out so I made my excuses and left. Downstairs by the lift to the new bar I spied Ma. I can't remember his full name but he saw me and told me to wait with him as four young ladies from Long An were coming, and indeed 4 minutes later they turned up on foot and we took the lift to the fourth floor.
Even before I could get to Li Kun's table a couple of blokes from another table called me over for a beer. Life's like that. So I jumped over and sat with them for 20 minutes or so, pretending I remembered them. Then to Li Kun's table and the Long An ladies and Ma. Well it was another fun evening despite me being a little ill still. Normally I wouldn't have gone out feeling like this but with so little time left sod it. I managed to make it home for 12.40am but for some reason didn't get to sleep till 2.30.
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| Great end to a great evening |
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