Big sausagefest

Woke up to find it wasn't that far from lunchtime so pinged A Wu to see if he wanted to go for a bite. Indeed he said he did and pinged a dingwei and said to meet him very soon of course. Blimey I was expecting to go and eat duck soup but we ended up at Shang hui. I've asked Tan about this. It literally means "chamber of commerce" and I've told her it clearly isn't and she agrees. But A Wu swears it's genuine.

Preparing food for later this afternoon

Well they were definitely gearing up for some big feast later in the day but A Wu and I just had a bowl of noodles and some meat and soup, and then I was allowed to leave but told to come back by 5pm which sounded suspiciously early. I went home to grab a shower and indeed by 4.30pm A Wu was already calling me to come over, so I left around 5pm got stuck in the worst Pingguo traffic jam I've ever encountered. Fair enough, 5.15pm is about the busiest time you can get, with people going home to eat, but even the dian dong ches were stuck.

Of course I received more calls but I got there around 5.30pm and it looked like people had been drinking for two hours or more. I was really not in the mood but had to do three cans' worth of ganbeiing till I had to explain "肚子胀了" (my tummy is bloated) and said I'd be back in 10 minutes as I needed a walk. Needed a break from the booze more like. It ended up being a half hour walk with just my City top on as it was still warmish. Back in Shang hui I managed a couple more ganbeis but still couldn't get into it. It was about four tables all with blokes around them save for a couple of token ladies.

A sausagefest

Then at 8.20pm Ma Yong pinged me to go over to his little shop to have a few drinks. Finally I was getting into the swing of things at Shang hui so said I should be able to make it a bit later. And indeed around 9.30pm I made my excuses to the red-faced gentlemen and drove over to Ma Yong's place. Apparently it was A Ning's son's birthday and they were having a party for him. Well, the kids were - in a different room - and I was given a slice of birthday cake which I actually ate because I couldn't eat most of the stuff at the previous meal.

Nicer late meal with mates

It ended up being a much nicer meal, with wives in tow as well and in general friendly faces. Much more enjoyable than the previous sausagefest. And because it was a kid's birthday party we didn't stay much beyond midnight so I had a relatively early night.