Another Bangxu festival and a breakage

Due to my early night last night I was up in the morning and picked up some jiaozi for breakfast; I may have needed my strength as tonight was to be the Bangxu concert, similar to last year except that it was only one evening and I wouldn't have to be a presenter, just a singer/guitarist. Lin Hong had already sent me the list of performers and I was to be 9th of 22 acts. She pinged me again in the morning to say she'd pick me up around 3pm this afternoon.

I’d already picked up the wireless transmitter and receiver from Li Kun yesterday, so I tuned up after lunch of leftover jiaozi from breakfast, and headed on over to Lin Hong’s place at 3pm. Oh, of course, she wasn’t there but outside the old people’s leisure centre, a place I’ve unforgivably not been to this year. I got there to see an entourage of at least three cars, and Lin Hong and some friends already dressed up in their dancing gear and makeup. Luckily I wasn’t the last one, and I got into the front seat of the 4x4 A Zhong was driving, with a mother and her son, and the son’s female cousin in the back.

The entourage of 3 or 4 or 5 carss

My back seat travelling companions were a bunch of laughs

As we were driving up I realised I shouldn’t be taking this scenery for granted; I’m not going to be here that much longer and should drink it in. But the kids in the back seat were being really funny and cute, full of smiles despite the mother telling them to sleep…only when we were 5 minutes from Bangxu did they finally relent for their micro-siesta.

It was barely 4pm by the time we arrived and the concert wouldn’t start till 7.30pm, and I was the ninth act out of 22. I wasn’t too nervous yet though, and then we were all asked to go into some room that had a sheet of paper at every seat and it looked like we were to be briefed. But instead of being briefed they ended up bringing a vat of warm sweet soup with sweet rice balls or something inside. Even had I been hungry I wouldn’t have cared much for this sweetness. And a few minutes later we all shuffled out. It was one of those foreign times for “waiting around” which is what I did for a while until I came across some young blokes who were asking me if I was foreign. I made them guess which country but they got the UK straightaway. Soon after I heard my name called and we walked 5 minutes to someone’s house where food was served with some other dancers. I managed to eat a bit as it would be the last chance before the performance.

Chatting with some local lads

Ah...the raised toilet seats...I almost got one but would be a bit embarrassed traipsing round with one whenever I went for a meal. Reminded me of getting one in 2003 when I couldn't poo for a week!

Back at the stage we did a sound test and it seemed ok, so I carefully laid down my guitar and put the transmitter in my pocket, then as there was still time to go went behind the building behind the stage to watch the kids play with bangers as dusk settled in. I really wanted a go but didn’t want to stop them having fun, so instead just watched with them until I could hear the performance was about to start.

Now the nerves were coming in a bit, so I appropriated a doctored bottle of cola and had a couple of sips. Nothing dreadful. The first few acts were done in about 3 minutes each, so I reasoned I’d be on in under half an hour. The problem was I’d lost count and didn’t know who was on the list. Finally, the main bloke told me I was on next. But I said the act before me should be a dance, not a song, and the one that was finishing was a song (I can at least tell the difference between the two in Chinese). So we checked with the sound engineer and indeed there was one more act before me. Phew!

So 3 minutes later I plugged in the transmitter and asked for a dengzi (stool) to sit on as a microphone was adjusted to the level of my mouth. It’s not the hardest song to sing, but I started too high and had to go down an octave after the first line…oh well…anyway I made it through and got polite applause…not quite as hearty as last time in Pingguo though I thought. As I put my hand down it banged straight into the transmitter and sheared it straight off, leaving the 7mm plug or whatever it is stuck inside the guitar. At least I saw it, and managed to pick it up before plodding off the stage.

Probably the last time this year

Shit, I would have to replace that, and I knew Li Kun had said he needed it for tomorrow. I wasn’t really in the mood for watching the rest of the show, so went for a walk until I found a small shop where I bought a beer and sat outside on the floor with it, and had a chat with Awl. Well I ended up buying one more beers “why not?” before being called to go back as the performance had ended.

Luckily we didn’t have to spend much time sorting stuff out, and before long we were in the car back to Pingguo. The first thing I did in the car was message Li Kun to tell him I’d broken his transmitter and that I’d sort a new one asap. Only a bit later did I realise I’d also forgotten to take the receiver from the sound engineer. Bugger. But Lin Hong said he’d bring it back to Pingguo the next day or so.

Li Kun didn’t get back to me but when back in Pingguo I went over to his studio to find him there jamming with friends of course. He said not to worry two hoots about the transmitter/receiver pair and that they weren’t expensive. I’d managed to withdraw the plug bit stuck inside my guitar and he took both parts and gave them to someone who said they could fix it…hmm…really?

Li Kun and friends jamming as you do

It seemed his band members had been trying out these earphone type things that enables you to hear each other’s music without extra noise you might get at a concert. I’d tried a pair the other day but didn’t like hearing the sound of my own voice, especially with my bloody cough. Anyway, one or two of them stayed, but the others eventually went, and beers were cracked open of course.

A bit later some bloke came back saying he'd fixed the transmitter...wow that was quick

I had earlier called China Southern about possibly extending my stay, and they’d said it would be possible for a fee, but I’d had to go so was interrupted. So I called them back from Li Kun’s studio and boringly chose the English option again. It transpired it would cost £150 to add on eight days. I didn’t think about it for too long and asked how I could pay. Well I could have done a bank card but I didn’t have the details on me. Weixin pay was out of the question but Ali Pay (支付宝) was an option. I asked the operator if he spoke Mandarin and of course he did, so put him on speakerphone and said I’d ask my Chinese mate if he could sort it. It took no more than a minute before the bloke confirmed the 1360 kuai had gone through and I’d wangled over a week more here. Yes! Of course I paid Li Kun 1500 to cover expenses.

It was getting on for 2am by the time I got back to Waipo’s, but managed a quick chat with Mat and Awl for an hour before enjoying slumbertime.

 

Brunch with Xiao Nong, tea with Lu zong, ye xiao with Haiwei and young people

Xiao Nong pinged me at 8am to eat something but it was a bit early for me so I said to meet a bit later for brunch and we ended up eating jiaozi at my place because why not? 

Lu zong had pinged me yesterday to go to his house to eat tea this evening as his daughter and niece wanted to practise English with me. Of course I couldn't refuse but despite brunch I somehow didn't manage to get a siesta despite having had a couple of beers. I did stop the beers but it doesn't half make you tired. But when I might have got an hour's shut-eye Lu zong sent me a voice message at 4.40pm to tell me to come over now. I sent one back to say I'd be 15 minutes or so, stupidly thinking I could get a micro-sleep but of course it didn't materialise.

Then I remembered that I had to perform at the Bangxu concert tomorrow and pinged Li Kun to see if I could use the wireless transmitter I'd used to good effect the other week. Of course I could, and I could pick it up later.

To be fair it was a lovely family meal, with not too much beer at all, and although his daughter couldn't make it, Lu zong's niece's English wasn't terrible at all, so I think I justified being there.

I made sure I bought a box of cherries to bring to the meal

Lu zong's house with a couple of uncles getting ready for the meal

But of course Haiwei had also invited me to a meal at 8.30pm to meet his elder son's girlfriend. I couldn't leave quite so early but compromised at 8.45pm and wasn't held back too much other than a couple more ganbeis.

I was really tiring by now. I so could have done with a siesta but I was too polite meeting Xiao Nong earlier. Andge even texted me saying he didn't know how I did it. But I knew I only had to hold out a couple of hours and bed would be my reward. As it was Haiwei had booked a place in Jiangbin Lu that I'd not been to before. It was really cool with a lot of young people...well young in the sense that they had boy/girlfriends that would likely become spouses in the coming months. Haiwei's eldest was there but his girlfriend wouldn't be for a good hour or so as she was coming back to Pingguo from another town.

Lovely meal with the young people at Jiangbin Lu

I tried to keep awake but drinking beer and it somewhat worked. I got up and ganbei‘d every one around the table, but doing couples as one made it easier. Eventually Haiwei's eldest's girlfriend turned up, so I managed one with her (a ganbei) even though she said she didn't drink. She's a rather pretty young lady by all accounts. By 11am I was really flagging so made my excuses and drove back home to Waipo's. Back home I managed a single zoom with the lads but was pretty much asleep by 12.30am for a change.

Haiwei's eldest's girlfriend turned up (yes in the middle)

Dongbei jiaozi and late night fish with an argument about kissing

Well I didn't make it a hat-trick of breakfasts, but I did ping Li Kun to go for lunch at Liang ge's Dongbei jiaozi place, and said to be there at 12.30pm. At 12.13pm he pinged me to say he'd already arrived. This is not even surprising anymore. I said I'd be 5 minutes and was nearly as good as my word.

It was good to see Liang ge in his own place as opposed to at Li Kun's studio, and we were served salad while the fuwuyuan prepared our jiaozi, of which I could only manage half and had the rest put in a takeaway tub. Of course Liang ge wouldn't let us pay and felt bad not so much because of the money but that we were the only people eating there (at least at first), and 13 kuai is very good for such a big helping plus a salad and a soup (not to mention a load of tea with the owner before eating).

Enjoying some tea with Liang ge at his Dongbei jiaozi place before the said jiaozi were ready

Following up from yesterday's failure to send the signed contracts, Li Kun went with me to the post office again, where it was confirmed they wouldn't get there any time soon, so Li Kun told me to follow him as we drove a fair way away, nearly half way to the aluminium place, where we found another delivery place. After some faff inputting the English address (why a separate field for post code but the rest of the address goes on a single line?), it transpired that even the fast-track, for nearly £50 would still take 10 days. Really not worth it even if I change my ticket till the 20th. Well, the final date should in theory be the 28th February, so hopefully that will be enough time for me to do it all in the UK.

By now it was gone 3pm, and I was concerned that Li Kun should be back at work but he said it was no problem and I didn't ask any further. I do intend to find out exactly what he does for a living though. Back home, Jiuma and Shiyun were there with the former cooking, and she said to eat tea here with them in a bit. In a bit indeed...I don't think it was even 4.30pm when it was ready, but it was nice to have a family meal for a change. It also meant not being able to finish off my second half of the jiaozi so I left them in the fridge for another time.

Later that evening I turned up at Li Kun's studio again where his wife also was. Tonight fish was on the menu but of course it wasn't the only thing to eat. I pinged Nong to come share with us and before long the beer was being poured slightly quicker than it normally is...maybe because it's a Saturday...maybe because we still celebrating New Year. Li Kun helped me order three crates of the stuff from WeiXin on my phone. It didn't work at first and he reckoned I should turn off the VPN to do it, which I didn't want to do as you never know when you'll be able to connect again. But I didn't want to let anyone down, so turned off the VPN. But it still didn't work, so he decided to change Weixin into Chinese which seemed a bit pointless as the app (酒小儿, which Google translates as "Alcoholic" and Baidu translates as "Alcohol children", neither of which I'm convinced about), doesn't even have an English version. And this time it worked, but I find it hard to believe it was due to changing Weixin to English. And as it was my first time using the app it gave me a special discount so it was only 62 kuai for the three crates of 12 beers. You are even given a slider to choose what proportion you want to be cold and which room temperature. Even better, it's guaranteed to arrive within 15 minutes.

Eating more than just fish at Li Kun's studio: clockwise from left are Li Kun, his wife, Huang Song, the bloke who prepared the food, and Li Kun's son A Duo

Within one minute though I had a phone call which I ignored as I didn't know the number. But when they called again Li Kun said to answer as it would be 酒小儿 and indeed it was, confirming how many cold (2/3) and the address. And 10 minutes later the bloke arrived with the three crates, and as is apparently normal here, two packs of playing cards. Imagine such a convenient and cheap service in the UK....

The two packs of playing cards that came with the beer...the cheap stuff that money can't buy is in some ways more valuable than the beer you can

A closer look at some of the wares on the menu tonight

The beer was flowing and somehow we got into a conversation/argument about whether you should ask somebody before you (attempt) to (romantically) kiss them. I can't remember who it was that said you should ask first, but I disagreed and said it should be spontaneous. The lads in the UK had been pinging for a chat but I said I was at Li Kun's and explained the argument. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to film us at Li Kun's discussing this point. Then Nong, as if to make her point, ask Mat (in English) to give her a kiss. I realised up till then that I was thinking from the man's (to woman) perspective. Anyway, it was all good-natured, cross-continental banter-fun, something that doesn't happen all that often.

Well...not really an argument but I think someone wants to kiss Mat...maybe she should have seen him first!

Failing to sent signed contracts to the UK

Another breakfast of some biscuits, which made it the first time since December last year I've actually had breakfast two days in a row in China. With no plans for the day I boringly had a bowl of pao mian as I didn't really feel like going out. This blasted cough is not going away and every few days or so it gets so bad I vomit. I was worried that that might happen outside.

Annoyingly, the solicitors have emailed me three documents that need to be signed by me as I'm LPA for my dad now and effectively selling his house. Given that it's 2025 you'd think an electronic signature would suffice but no, this is house-selling and they need wet ones. I'd already gone and printed them out but, reckoned it would be a good idea to get them sent back asap. So, when Jiuma and my "grand daughter" Tan Shiyun unexpectedly turned up I asked the latter if she wanted to go out with me to find a post office. Yeah, she wanted to go out with "foreign" gong gong, and I told her I wasn't foreign so we argued about it till we got on the dian dong che.

I drove to the place we sent the hover boards back from at great expense all those years ago, and filled in a big EMS envelope with Chinese and English address that took a good 15 minutes to write. Only when getting to the counter did I think to ask how long it would take. "Up to two weeks". Oh, I'm due back on the 12th, but I'm secretly thinking of adding another week. Even if I can push it back till 20th there would be no point in wasting 300+ kuai on something that might arrive after me. The woman understood, and advised me to contact another company on WeiXin that may be able to sort something out quicker. I thanked her for her honesty and found Shiyun who was now playing outside in preparation to get back. Outside, two men were vehemently arguing, as it appeared one had driven his dian dong che into the other's van and damaged the wing mirror, and the latter wanted recompense. This had actually been going on since we arrived over 20 minutes ago. I literally can't remember the last time I heard an argument in public Pingguo (except maybe Tan and me).

Tan Shiyun making attempting to send contracts abroad a more interesting experience

Back home, I contacted the other company, and after a slow conversation, realised this one wouldn't be any quicker. I resolved to talk to Li Kun about it as he would know the coup.

Indeed, he pinged me at tea time to go to his later that evening for a drink. I wasn't sure I'd be up to it but said I should be able to. I still didn't fancy going out though so ended up eating a few mini brown boiled eggs, wondering if they were actually quail eggs, which used to be my go-to snack in previous months.

Feeling "ok", I got to Li Kun's at 9.30pm and he'd ordered bbq and I realised despite having three meals today, they were all pretty small and I was now pretty hungry, so happily help him and some friends get through them. Among the friends was the owner of Bar 3000, where we'd been a week ago. I guess she was closed today, or business was slow. Likely the former as we're still well into Chinese New Year here and many people are out of town. I ended up managing a few beers and not being sick, until we called it a night at an earlyish 1.30am considering he wasn't working tomorrow. Back home had another chat with the lads for another hour as you do.

Bar 3000° boss or owner or manager on the left, someone else, Li Kun for what has become my default evening hang-out place

Market and evening meal with A Wu and bosses at his office

I managed a breakfast of some biscuits and lunch of jiaozi. A Wu had called me at 9am to invite me for a meal at his office this evening. And as luck would have it I happened upon his black Camry around midday while out. So it was that I would accompany him to the market to pick up food for the meal this evening. It's always a sensory-overload experience in the market, but in a good way. In fact so many experiences are sensory-overload here in a good way. We spent the best part of an hour buying fish, lamb, loads of vegetables I don't even know the words for in English, before driving to near my place to pick up some raw fish at the same place we did last year. Then he dropped me back to Waipo's to attempt a siesta, which I can't remember if I was successful in doing.

A fairly rare left-handed chopper sorting out some lamb ribs for us tonight

Cute kids playing fake Lego while the boss was cutting up the raw fish. I pretended that I was a local person and they somehow saw through it

Later, ss I was having a pre-evening-meal beer, V sent a link to an English quiz from 112 years ago that many English teachers fail today. I'm almost proud to say I "only" got b) and d) wrong. Missed the wrong tense for d) but thought it should be "anyone" instead of "any one". I wonder what the equivalent in Chinese would be.

I found my way to A Wu's office no problem and of course there was some waiting around while they were finishing the cooking. There was clearly far too much for the 10 or so bosses along with some of their wives and children. But of course it was a cracking meal, but so many leftovers that we agreed to come back tomorrow to continue. I was going to make my way back home when it finally tapered off around 10.30pm, and was planning to pop to Li Kun's when A Wu asked me to clean the floor. Fair enough, there had been 20+ people and it was quite grubby. So I spent the next 45 minutes or so sweeping then mopping up while he sorted the excess food into what could and could not be used tomorrow.

Getting ready to eat at the bosses' table (women and children were at their own table in the other room)

Finally it was time to go, but we had to take the extra stuff to his place so spent two trips going down the lift to put it in his Camry before driving over there. Of course one of the bags split as soon as we got out of the car in the basement parking, so I kept the lift door open as he slowly put the contents inside it as we didn't have another bag. Another this would have been an annoying waste of a few minutes but here these sort of things just sort of add to the moment in a positive way...at least mainly because I wasn't in a hurry to do anything else. Finally we got the stuff upstairs and into his apartment. I think I said I'd walk back to pick up my dian dong che as I wanted the exercise, and I don't think he argued too much as it was around midnight.

Which meant in the end it was a bit late to go to Li Kun's, not that I'd told him I'd be popping round. So instead once home caught up with the lads back in the UK (and Reunion) for nearly two hours.

Breakfast with Xiao Nong and evening game feet with Li Kun and family

Got another early message from Xiao Nong to say she was hungry and fancied eating jiaozi. I wasn't really in the mood to get up but social intercourse is better than no intercourse, and I'd be able to sleep in the afternoon. So a few minutes later I drove to the place I like near my flat, and met her there after picking up some gorgeous sweetcorn jiaozi. Of course I'd missed her message to get the boss to give me some vinegar and soy sauce and only saw it as I dismounted from the dian dong che outside my xiao qu (area of block of flats I need to scan my face to get in). So I popped into the local 24h store and picked up a bottle of each as it's unlikely to be the only time we'll breakfast together.

Sweetcorn jiaozi for breakfast as you do

We ate at my flat and as is quite normal among Chinese friends, we proceeded to peruse our phones without talking to each other for a while. While this is massively frowned upon in Europe (as far as I know), it's considered to be completely normal here. And I have come to like it. Why not be comfortable browsing Douyin or Reddit if you feel like it, whether or not in the company of others? As long as it's not considered rude by any party.

In fact I ended up doing a character test on Pleco. Chinese characters, not a test of my own character. She noticed and then started helping me out as I'd chosen categories HSK 3/4/5 and I probably only know half of them. It was great as she would give examples or example situations of where you would want to know the word, and I'd often be able to work out how to say the characters so then I was starting to put them together with what they look like. This went on for the best part of an hour before my poor little brain started to get tired so I'd need to get some rest.

I don't recall what time I roused/rose/arose, but it wasn't early. I finished off the uneaten sweetcorn jiaozi and went back to Waipo's for a bit before deciding I'd pop to Li Kun's for a bit. I wanted to turn up unannounced but thought I'd pick up some roast duck first of all. But as it had gone 10pm that place was closed and the closest place I could find was selling chicken and duck feet, both boned (40 kuai/jin) and unboned (50 kuai/jin). I got a jin of both, a mix of spicy and unspicy.

And it was a good thing I did as when I got there his kids were there too as well as a few others, and his daughter loves chicken and duck feet. Within a few minutes Li laoshi put a guitar into my arms and asked me to sing an English song, so (as I have had a beer or two at Waipo's) I obliged with a couple of Simon and Garfunkel numbers as per usual. It turned into another memorable and fun evening and I got back home (to Waipo's) by 1am for an early change.

Li Kun's wife and second daughter tucking in to chicken and duck feet as you do

Another night of many meals, but highlight was shopping with Tan Shiyun

I awoke to the sound of a young voice and women's voices. I realised that the younger voice was my "grand daughter" Tan Shiyun. I knew she'd open my door so I quickly clothed and not a second later indeed she was trying to get in. I'm not sure why they'd come back but it's their house too so fair enough.

I said I'd take her out shopping but she said "no" (or "bu"). But a few minutes later she'd warmed to me again so we agreed to go out to the supermarket together. She's super-cute, especially when she holds my hand and all the grannies coo over her.

Tan Shiyun is super-cute...

...and a great companion at the supermarket

So I got her a toy fruit juice maker and some pistachios which I now know are pronounced pist-A-chios, and not pist-AH-chios...jeez they had fun correcting me on that (English family, not Chinese). Not long after, Haiwei pinged me to go for an evening meal at his girlfriend, Li Baoli's house. Why not?

So around 7pm I turned up and Baoli was outside to find me. It was yet another lovely family meal with three generations but I felt genuinely welcome. Living here is so nice.

Another cracking meal at Baoli's with her boyfriend Haiwei

A bit later Lu zong called me to go to his bar for a bite to eat so when it was appropriate a bit later, I told Baoli I would go elsewhere but not before we'd finished there. I guess I got to Lu zong's around 10pm or so but really don't remember...all I know is I also had a cracking time at his bar and didn't leave till around midnight.

Moving on to Lu zong's

Of course that's when it should have been it for the night. But Li Kun was pinging me to come over. I said I'd see...and indeed around midnight I made it around for a third evening meal as you do. But it was really cool...his younger kids were there and they dote upon me...it's like an early chance at being a grandparent to see if it would fit you...so far I think it certainly would...though I'd not want it any time soon. Not sure what time I got back home but I managed to find a place to charge up the dian dong che at least.

Moving on to Li Kun's

Rat meal at guitar shop followed by music at Feng ge's

Woke up at Waipo's for the first time in a while and as it was not yet 10am decided to pick up what I could of Tan's stuff from Lin Hong's flat, which meant her hand-luggage suitcase and violin, so there'd definitely be at least one more journey there for my stuff. After checking with Tan I've decided I'll probably spend most of my nights at Waipo's now so went to my flat to pick up most of my clothes there and hang up with ones I'd washed yesterday morning. Hmm...they were already starting to smell a bit...may have to re-wash them. So by lunchtime I was back at Waipo's with my suitcase and guitar in hand but my next stop planned was for jiaozi, which I ate in with a bowl of soup after a chat with Awl on the way there.

Ling Ming's wife's house for future reference

I hadn't really had as much sleep as I wanted so treated myself to a couple of beers and a siesta and before I knew it Huang Lei had sent a message at 5.30pm to go and eat with him at 8pm. Hmm...8pm seems a bit late for an evening meal, but too early for an evening snack. Anyway, before I could respond he called me to confirm 8pm so that meant despite being hungry I only allowed myself a couple of biscuits as didn't want to do in my appetite for later.

I didn't even have any more beers as I'd had an email from the solicitors and needed to sort out a lot of dad's utilities. Luckily so much of this stuff can be done online now, almost all in fact now that I have access to his email. The only really annoying thing is that they want wet signatures for a couple of the documents so I'll have to print them out and send them back to the UK. Boo.

Soon after 8pm I got to the music shop north of the guangchang I've been to a couple of times before. Huang Lei was there with his younger son but few other people were. I ended up playing a sort of flicking draughts football type game with him for about half an hour until others turned up, and eventually a trolley of sumptuous food, and we finally sat down to eat at 9pm. I know Huang Lei could have told me to come at 9pm but it's not like that here...they generally want you early for a chat and to make sure you don't end up elsewhere.

Rat and other goodies for an evening feast

Lovely rat was the speciality of the meal for me

Anyway the main dish was rat. They have the same word for rat as for mouse here, as normally the context is close enough, but in order to make sure I asked if it was "big mouse" (rat) or actual "small mouse" (mouse) and it was confirmed it was the former. I breathed a sigh of relief but I don't know why really...would it have been that different...yeah...less meat and more annoying bones I suppose. Hardly worth skinning a mouse anyway for the amount you get. In fact it's hardly worth skinning a rat but they did and it was delicious. A fairly fair way of dealing with unwanted vermin.

Soon after 10pm Feng ge turned up looking a bit the worse for the wear, and invited me to go to his place at Yang Ming park so after a couple more beers it was the 10 minute journey over the bridge to his place. Except with him on the back of the bike nearly falling asleep it was over 15 mins. This time there was no Li Kun to accompany me unlike 10 days ago, as he's away for four days. I was invited to go but turned it down as I rather like being in Pingguo. Having said that I should branch out a bit more...one day. Anyway, other than Feng ge I didn't know the other people, but there were two blokes playing the guitar, one on the drums, and a rather pretty woman to watch and listen.

Music at Feng ge's place in Yang Ming park

It was a nice evening but at midnight Feng ge wisely decided to stop drinking alcohol. I didn't, but I was flaking by 1am and for once a guitar wasn't thrust into my arms, and I didn't request it. So we all spent 10 minutes tidying up and I guess I was home at 2ish.

Another sausagefest and dreadful footy, with some nice dog in-between

Well I got up in time to manage some of yesterday's delivered food for a brief lunch and managed to chill for a little while until A Wu pinged me to ask me to come over to play caima as he was losing. But it was now only 5pm which I thought was a bit early to be drinking. However, it's the New Year period and anything goes. So after a dingwei was sent I was on the longish route to wherever it was and was just glad I had a full charge in the dian dong che.

Another sausagefest, but a bit more fun than many

It turned out to be yet another sausagefest, but hey-ho it meant my evening meal was sorted. It took a while but I managed to get over that time where you just don't want any more beer, until it's ok again, and I table-hopped until I got a call to go to A Hoc's place for a late bite. This gave me the excuse to leave after a few more ganbei's, and it was definitely a quieter environment than the raucous one I'd just been to.

Eating dog with A Guang (middle) and a couple of mates at A Hoc's

And of course since I thought I'd had my last taste of dog nearly two years ago, that was what was on the table, and to be fair it tasted great - only A Hoc can make me a doggivore anymore. Even though I'd got up at lunchtime, it had only been 6 hours' sleep, so I started to flag at midnight, and anyway wanted to watch the Arsenal - City match at 12.30am so decided to kip at Waipo's tonight for the wifi. What an awful watch... a 5-1 with a bitterly disappointing second half. It's curtains for us this season. Well at least it wasn't a 4am start....

A normal day for a while with nice meal at Lin Hong's

Almost a normal day today - at least for the most part. Lin Hong had pinged me to go for a meal at her house for 6.30pm, so I headed out to pick a box of cherries first as you should do, and I've been getting a lot better at, despite them costing more than in the UK. Tian Tian was there with four ex-colleagues and her boyfriend, and A Zhong was still cooking. So we played a bit with the cat until it was time to eat when Tian Tian was instructed to go downstairs to buy some beer. The boyfriend was apparently driving so wasn't to drink, except as soon as I poured myself a glass he did the same.

Great meal with Lin Hong, Tian Tian, and friends

The food and the company were as good as ever. None of the women were drinking. That was until Lin Hong said she had some home-made wine and poured each of them a glass. I said I'd have a wee taste but she poured a plastic glass to the brim of course. It was actually quite palatable if a little sweet, and somehow I did manage the whole glass before refusing a second and going back on the beer. I love the little huoguo pot that has a wide edge for effectively frying meat on, and if had the space would be tempted to bring one back.

A Wu pinged for me to go and eat with them but I told him a little later as I genuinely like these family meals. Tian Tian's boyfriend not only joined me in drinking beer but also had a whole glass of wine that was around 18% according to Lin Hong. Eventually around 8.30pm I made my excuses and left them as I was truly stuffed.

Another evening with A Wu and family and friends at A Zhou's place

But of course there was more to come when I got to A Zhou's place where A Wu and his family were cooking bbq and drinking beer and playing cards of course. I managed a little nibble when I got there but not that long after Xiao Nong pinged me to sing song. Could I really manage another venue? Yeah...it wasn't even midnight. But at not even 1am I managed to make my excuses and leave to get some rest.

Xiao Nong and friends at a KTV I'd not been to before...just wish I was awake enough to stay longer

That was until getting on for 3am when Xiao Nong announced she was seeing a sick friend at the hospital as I was about to sleep, but she needed a lift so of course I did. The dian dong che was on its last battery-legs when she then announced that her "sister" was involved in a bit of a fracas at a bar at bloody getting on for 5am. And of course there were no didi ches at that time so I did the noble thing and took her down to Jiangbin Lu. I only just managed it back home at snail's pace but I realised I'd squeezed 42 km out of it so now I understand why so many people drive so slowly...it simply gets them more kms out of a charge. Finally at getting on for 6am I bloody took a small beer and got some well-deserved shut-eye.

Delivering hongbaos, and late walk with kids, and a later drink with friends at Yang Ming park

Well after last night's vomit session I decided to take it easy food-wise, and just made some pao mian to keep it carby and simple, before deciding to take A Wu's kids' hongbaos to them. Tan had said that you only give hongbaos on New Year's Day, but I'd seen for myself that that wasn't necessarily the case. I needed the exercise so decided to walk the 20 minutes or so north to his qu, and thought I remembered which block he lived in but when I got to the 25th floor and knocked on what I thought was his door, it was eventually opened by some bloke who looked rather nonplussed to see me standing there. I apologised profusely and he was then perfectly ok about it, probably more in shock of seeing a foreigner outside his front door. Finally A Wu had got back to me to say he was in block 2, not block 1, so a few minutes later I was in his place.

I hadn't given his kids their hongbaos the other day as there were other kids around and I didn't want them to feel bad, so I handed his younger son and daughter one each, to big thank yous, before A Wu's wife's sister's daughter entered the living room from one of the bedrooms. Oh no! The one thing I came here to avoid! I felt bad and told her I'd bring hers next time. She was fine and I gave her a little hug and kissed her on the forehead for some reason. She walked to the table to get herself a biscuit but instead of opening it (nearly everything's wrapped here), she just gave it to me. What a sweet thing to do when her two cousins had just received a red envelope. Then I realised I still had 300 kuai in my pocket so asked A Wu if he had a spare red envelope and after a couple of minutes searching he found one, as most Chinese houses have a few lying around, although like Sellotape (one of the few brand names I use instead of the proper term which as anyone who's ever seen Blue Peter will know, is "sticky tape"), they can be hard to find sometimes.

A Wu said to go to A Zhou's place again tonight for a bite to eat, and he'd ping me a bit later, so I made use of some spare time to go for a little walk. In fact I'd included the walk to A Wu's in my Strava recording and managed 7.4km in 1h26m of moving. And not that long after I was called to go to eat. I sort of knew most of the people there and once again I was nearly the only person not on the baijiu. We then started to play mo pai and I sort of did ok for someone who has not worked out 20% of the rules yet.

Yet another family meal

I left before it got too raucous saying I had a "matter" to attend to, which was true as I needed to transfer some money before the mortgage was taken out. That took longer than it ought to have and by 10.30pm A Wu was saying to meet up at the guangchang to go for a walk with the kids. Why not? So just before 11pm I met up with him and his wife and wife's sister and husband and the three kids but they told me to get in a car as we were driving to Yang Ming park on the south of the river. Fair enough. It ended up being an excuse for taking lots of photos and was pretty fun as it wasn't cold.

The dried up river isn't a patch on Valencia's but it actually does turn into a wet river when it gets warmer

And I heard "Peng Duoming!" being shouted out and I noticed some friends drinking by the side of the road. I would quite like to have joined them but it would have been rude so I said I'd ping them a bit later if it wasn't too late. Then around midnight we moved on to a place near A Xia's old shop and ordered deep-fried bananas and chips, with mango juice to wash them down with. A Wu said it wasn't good to eat meat all the time and he'd gone for the healthy option. I agreed with him about not eating so much meat but didn't tell him I didn't think he'd chosen the healthiest alternative.

Deep fried bananas and fries, with mango juice...no calories there then

Finally they dropped me back at the guangchang to pick up my bike around 1.30am as the kids were getting tired. I pinged the friends to see if they were there and indeed they were, so 10 minutes later I was catching up on the beers after a break of about 5 hours. Apparently one of the women was the daughter of the owner of the set of buildings we were eating outside of, including a discotheque that I was invited to attend another day, not that I think I can do that anymore, thanks all the same. But it was a good laugh and we managed to stay up till 3am before there were signs of flakiness. All in all another full day, and no being sick this time.

"Friends" at Yang Ming park at 3am

Trip to Bangxu and maybe bad oysters

For the first time here this year (which isn't really that long) I managed to wake up at 8.30am and pinged Nong. Surprisingly for a Guangxi person she got back to me a bit later to confirm she'd pick me up at 10am. So I managed to get myself to my flat. At least that was my intention. I was waiting at the last red light and all of a sudden I found myself 10' further forwards. It took me a few seconds to realise some idiotic bloke had rammed right into the back of me. "Mei shi mei shi!" he shouted from the floor...one hand clutching a cigarette and another his mobile phone. He was literally saying "no problem" while writhing on the road next to his stricken bike and I wasn't in the mood to argue as he looked physically ok and so did my bike. It's very uncommon to say something rude to someone here but I told him to use his eyes in the future before getting on and riding the 200 or so yards to my place.

I grabbed a wash and indeed Nong pinged at 9.45am to say she'd be there in 10 minutes. I had my coat, my charger, my tissues, and my phone, and reckoned that was all I'd need till 7pm when she'd said we'd be back in Pingguo. so at 9.55am I was in her car and we went to pick up her mum and an aunt, and spent the next hour driving up to Bangxu. It was quite enjoyable as we had a sensible conversation about all the languages people speak here, as I'd heard three of them in the last few minutes. Finally I think I understand: putonghua is Mandarin, which just about everyone speaks; Guiliuhua is a relative of Mandarin, but with different tones and and some vastly different pronunciations, which people of my age tend to speak with locals, and Zhuang hua is the local lingo which seems barely related and is spoken by the elder/older. On top of this many people also speak Bai hua, or Yue yu, or Guangdong hua (all basically Cantonese). So now I can finally more-or-less compartmentalise which language someone is speaking.

We got to Bangxu and Nong thought about stopping off at "jie shang", which is Tan's part of Bangxu, but we reasoned that it might not look good if people took pics of me there if we weren't staying there...what would Tan think? So we drove on another 10 minutes to Nong's cun (village), and then on to her mum's tun (group of houses within a village).

Wow, it was pretty pretty, and I realised I'd been taking in these green landscapes for granted for too long. Nong had mentioned that all the trees were green and it was January and then I learnt the words for deciduous and evergreen that I will definitely forget very soon. As it was nearly midday, and neither Nong nor I had eaten, some aunties cooked some soup for us for "breakfast" which was actually really nice, and then we went to drink tea in front of the mountains. Yet again, I realised I shouldn't take this for granted...how many opportunities does a Londoner get to drink tea in front of mountains?

Then Nong suggested going to go for a walk in a cave. Well I was up for this; I've done it a couple of times and it can be fun, if scary. So we ended up driving 10 minutes away with a couple of aunties till we came upon a place which was clearly touristy. Oh, it reminded me of the Bangxu caves we once went to 21 years ago which were raw and lovely, and then a couple of years later when they'd been touristified and were ridden with colourful lights and denied their natural beauty. But anyway Nong paid 320 kuai for the four of us and we entered and took a couple of photos at the designated photo place as you have to do, before going for a walk as it would be 20 minutes before the next scheduled "walk" through the caves.

Not destroying the rabbits while waiting...

Well it took a couple of hours and we were with about 20 other people. It was "fun" in the sense that it was different but I argued with Nong that I saw other animals in the forms of the stalactites and stalagmites than the tour operator was telling us to see. At least I thought that meant I had imagination but she had a bit of a go at me for not agreeing...at least she saw the humour about it. The last hour comprised a boat trip going back during which I nearly capsized the thing as I was the last of nine to get on and thought it was stable. It was anything but. But I gingerly stepped into the only free seat which thankfully was in the middle and sat there the whole time just hoping not to drop into the freezing water with my phone and clothes in that order.

The hour took two in my mind, and wasn't so relaxing as it could have been had we not nearly capsized...but it was a great new experience in the end. Once back at Nong's hometown I insisted on paying the 320 kuai but she refused, saying it wasn't that often she could invite me anywhere...well that's not true but I appreciated the sentiment.

During the boat ride back through the caves...would have been cool if I wasn't worried about tipping over

By now many people were preparing food. I wanted to help but knew I'd just get in the way, so found a couple of young boys lighting bangers. Oh, this is something dear to my heart...it reminds me of France in the 80s when that was a thing. They were dangerously lighting them and putting them in tin cans and the like and no parent was scolding them as though it wasn't dangerous. That meant it couldn't be dangerous for me right? Of course not! As soon as I walked over to them to join in one of them leapt into the house and brought back a few packs of bangers and mini Catherine wheels. I do declare for the next hour I had one of my favourite experiences (non-sexual) in China letting off scores of bangers and other fireworks until we were told to be quiet as some kids were sleeping. No worries, we just walked 50 yards down the lane and dropped the big bangers into the ditch that had water and watched them fire up. I was literally in my element (not in the classic sense of "literal" which I'm still angry about).

This has to be up with one of my top experiences...how can you go wrong with bangers?

And mentally probably the youngest kid chucking one into the water

Finally we were called to eat at gone 5pm, and there was a massive spread. I'd already met many of the people in the tun, and I knew some were pissed. But I wasn't ready for how much drinking was to come in the next hour or so. I had to explain to many people that I was a Bangxu guye, and that Nong wasn't my wife, but it was pretty cool and I managed to eat for a good hour until I was really full. Unfortunately it looked like we wouldn't be leaving at 6pm, or 7pm, but I finally agreed with Nong to leave around 7.30pm as I'd arranged to meet up with Xiao Nong. However, it proved difficult to leave, having to ganbei with literally everyone there for the umpteenth time. Not that I was unhappy about it!

Cracking meal at Nong's hometown

Well I was a bit, as Xiao Nong had had to go to pick up her kids, so I instead I got in contact with A Wu, who told me to meet up at the place I'd been to a couple of times in the past. A Zhu's? Anyway I got there and there were quite a few people, so I sat down and joined in as you do. This is the way life should be. So I said goodnight to her and drove the 6 minutes to where A Wu and his family were and ended up playing mo pai for a while even though I still don't really understand the rules.

Playing mo pai with A Wu and family/friends

Li Kun pinged me a bit later to say he was going for a drink at 3000° and I said I'd meet him in a bit. A "bit" for once met like an English "bit"; he was there by himself when I got there a few minutes later. This is almost unheard of here; I've never turned up to find only the host by themselves. But we had a couple of bottles and I mentioned I'd been to Nong's hometown so we contacted her and a few minutes later she turned up, along with a load of oysters that hadn't been eaten earlier in the day. No problem, she gave the bag to the pretty boss (I've known her for years) and asked her to cook them). 15 minutes later we had a stack of oysters on our table. The boss joined us for a couple of drinks, and I told her I was sorry if I was a bit drunk in August 2023 (which I was) to which she just waved it off and made me ganbei as you do.

Late bite with Li Kun and Nong...to be regurgitated later

All in all it was a very pleasant evening and we left around 2am. But once home, despite not opening a beer, I had a weird feeling in my stomach. Two minutes later I was retching in the toilet and all of those oysters came up. I'd like to think it was just the oysters but quite honestly it could be a combination of that plus beers for the last x weeks.

Slightly dull New Year's Day but nice chat with a family

Well it was New Year's Day today and I had no plans. But that changed when Haiwei called me at 11am to go to his mum's for lunch, which was very nice of him. I probably could have called any number of people and invited myself as I guess it's quite an auspicious day. But anyway, 1h40m later I was being called again asking where I was. Well I'd stopped off to buy some cherries for 88 kuai which was the least I could do.

Lunch was great and for the first time in a long time we actually had a few beers with it. But that was it and afterwards I went back to Lin Hong's. I maybe could have slept after the couple of beers but instead decided to go for walk and pick up some cola as I'd noticed that the larger supermarkets were open, even if the majority of other shops were not. It wasn't even cold so I ended up sitting on a bench at the guangchang approving the sunset with no plans whatsoever.

Not the most interesting of sunsets but it made me warm inside

So I just walked back to Lin Hong's but just as I got to the main gate I heard a "hello!" from the shop opposite. There was a family sitting down outside it and they bade me sit down with them and speak some English with the son. Well how could I refuse? I ended up staying the best part of two hours and ingratiating them a little with what English the son understood. His elder sister didn't speak any but explained that she made her living making films, mainly for douyin, and politely asked if she could film me, but promised she wouldn't use it for commercial purposes. Yes of course, so I was filmed picking up some duck and saying it was delicious in the local language. I guess I'll check douyin in a while....

Great chat with a family outside Lin Hong's place

Then as I was about to contemplate an early night, Nong pinged me to go to her hometown in Bangxu tomorrow, and as I'd not had a siesta I told her I'd probably be able to make it. You can't really turn these things down.

New Year's Eve and monkey alcohol

Well today it was New Year's Eve (Chu Xi), and although I'd been invited out by a friend, Ling Ming had pinged me to eat with them and as it is traditional to eat with family I said I would. So they came to pick me up at 5ish as I was at Lin Hong's place. Of course it wasn't that simple and they said to meet by the large bins outside but I couldn't find them. Finally I just sent a picture of where I was and his wife Nong turned up in her car and we drove to her parents' place.

Most houses have these huge incense sticks outside to remember the dead

Family meal with Ling Ming and his wife Nong

I was a bit worried about drinking arrangements as Ling Ming had told me in December that his wife didn't let him drink alcohol, but there was a pack of six cans of 1998 luckily, and even better, he was allowed to drink a few glasses, together with some other bloke. But during the whole meal the three of us only had those six beers. Until an uncle brought out a large bottle and said it contained monkey-alcohol. I genuinely thought he was joking for a bit but no, they put the body of a monkey into a vat of booze for a couple of years or so and then drink it. Of course I tried a little...it wasn't dreadful but I wouldn't have said it tasted of monkey...not that I would have known.

Monkey alcohol of course

Li Kun had pinged me to go to drink with him and as I was pretty sober I made my excuses and got a lift home a bit later, from where I took the dian dong che the long 10 minute drive to his elder brother's place I'd visited a year or so ago. It was much more of a fun affair sinking the 2.8%ers and playing with the kids. I'd had the presence of mind to withdraw some cash and also bought some red envelopes, and even though there was no countdown to midnight when we went out to watch the fireworks I handed three red envelopes to each of Li Kun's kids, and got big kisses from his youngest son. Li Kun then berated me for putting 100 kuai in each envelope as apparently now it is only appropriate to put in 20 kuai, otherwise other people giving red envelopes might feel bad. Whatever, I told him I don't see his kids that often but in fact I've seen them more than Andrew's kids in the last couple of years.

Cooking bbq at Li Kun's elder brother's house as you do on New Year's Eve

Around 1am we went to his studio where the kids were still wide awake, and quaffed a few more beers until I noticed that Nong had pinged me to wish me a Happy New Year. She was out of course and presently at 2am I asked if she still was, and this being Pingguo, yes she was, at the youcha place by Xiao Bai de Tian's so of course I drove over as Li Kun was taking the kids home. It was a cool 90 minutes with her and a mate and the boss...not too much ganbeiing and eventually we called it a night at getting on for 3.30am. I think I went back to Lin Hong's place after that but can't be sure.

Final destination - eating a late snack with Nong

Me and the boss of the place