Finally back to piano practice and a nice busy evening

I woke up sad. Sad that mostly everything has been so nice. And not doing something is relatively not nice. Whereas normally in the UK not doing something is neutral. Also, the weather is changing again back to cold. So rather than be down in the dumps I went for a pre-lunch walk to the guangchang。 It was overcast but within a few minutes I had to take my top off as I was sweating, although no-one else was short-sleeved. I walked up to the football stadium and climbed onto a bench to watch some people erecting new floodlights. It was scary to see two blokes in what looked like a mini tipper thing being hauled up 20 metres or so to affix some sort of rope to the recently erected floodlight. I could barely watch so decided to go back home and get a bite to eat.

No way I'd do that

A bit later I remembered my resolution to get back to piano practice after three weeks without. I didn't have my music with me so found it online and downloaded to a USB drive. I knew a place that advertised printing photos so walked there and sure enough for 6 kuai the bloke printed off the 13 pages of the sonata. I got to the music place at 4.30pm and sure enough the lady took me to a different room this time where there were two out-of-tune pianos, but slightly better than the ones last night. Other than last night it was the first time I'd touched a real piano in years, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious and started to sweat profusely. But I persisted, and gradually I felt it coming back, and started to care less if anyone was listening. Oh why didn't I find a place when I first got here? When the hour was up I felt slightly elated. I must make this a regular thing for the last two weeks.

Finally back to piano practice

Back home it was 6pm and I had no plans for the evening. I pinged a couple of mates but they had already eaten. Fair enough, I have a go at people for making last-minute plans so I shouldn't expect much when I do the same. In the end I was so hungry I thought I'd just go and find somewhere by myself, but it's pretty sad to eat an evening meal alone here, so I thought I'd see if I could get myself something at Beihai Huang's. He wasn't sitting outside as he normally does so I went inside to see him at a table with a few other blokes. He immediately pointed at a chair and made me sit down and grab some food. I have no idea with the occasion was but he said he'd forgotten to call me which may or may not have been true. Either way it was a fine and very welcome meal, despite the dog meat in the centre of the table.

An unexpected meal with some blokes at Beihai Huang's

A Wu pinged me half an hour into the meal to show me a video of where he was eating. If he'd only told me an hour previously I could have gone to the place he was. As it was I told him I'd go over in a bit. That bit ended up being well after 8pm after several more pings to tell me to hurry up. But at 8.30pm I turned up and obviously most of the people had already left, but there was still plenty of wine and beer at the table. There were a couple of women, one dressed in what looked to me like a sort of country club outfit, all in white and light beige. She gave a little squeal when she saw me, and again when she heard me speak Chinese. She said it was the first time she'd spoken to a foreigner, and she ganbeid me with her red wine, only to let a little bit drop from her mouth to her white top. Being the gentleman that I am, I quickly picked up some tissue and started wiping it off before A Wu started laughing and I realised I was wiping her right breast. Gosh I was rather embarrassed, but she didn't seem to be.

The lady in white who would have been a bit more red had I not leapt in

The alcohol shop woman was also there, doing her job of helping the men drink their red wine that the presumably had bought from her earlier. Other people came and went, and of course I had to cai ma until the beer was finished. But then more came of course. I guess we left around 10pm and I took A Wu home. He suggested going for a couple more drinks but he wasn't the best for wear so I said we'd do it another day.

Back home, I got a second wind, and pinged another friend, who just happened to be out with her friends by Xiao Bai de Tian, so at 11.30pm I was out again to drink you cha and a bit more beer. It was actually more fun than the previous meal, and we cooked pig ears and ate them with lettuce leaves. I stayed for about an hour after which the only bloke there paid the bill and we got ready to leave. However, I noticed Li Kun was in Xiao Bai de Tian so I popped in to say hello. Well it's never just "hello", and of course I sat down with him and we had a few more beers as you do. The owner performed some songs and what I assume is his son accompanied him on the drums for one of them, which was nice, and I gave him a high 5 when he got back to his table.

You cha next to Xiao Bai de Tian

At the fourth place of the evening with the owner and his son performing

So what could have been an empty night at 6.30pm turned into a very full one just a few minutes later, with no planning at all. I really should be able to invite people out but if I did that I'd be one person inviting another person, whereas when I'm invited out it's always a number of people I meet. I'm not really sure how to fix that other than to arrange a few people that already know each other to get together, like I often do at the end of a stay at Beihai Huang's place. I guess I'll just have to do that a bit more often.

Meal with Li Kun and KTV with Nong and foreigner

Up at a leisurely 11ish and faffed about for a bit before deciding to have a quick bite and go for a walk. I probably shouldn't have finished off that V&Lemonade I'd poured last night but hey I'm on holiday. I brought a bit of jing jiu and cola with me to take advantage of what may be the last short-sleeve weather for a while. My mini-goal was to get my black jeans fixed as one of the belt holder things had broken. It was more an excuse for a walk than a goal in itself, and as I walked towards the market I passed by the shoe-cleaners but my Cons were still not ready due to New Year business.

I wish I could fall asleep like this...I think these are people waiting to be picked up to work

At the market I saw some people preparing to inflate some sort of giant green inflatable. I was about to ask when a woman who recognised me shouted at me to come back at 5pm to drink red wine. Ok, I might just do. I found a seamstress, or should it be seamster? No, in fact it seams "seamstress" can refer to either gender who sews or mends clothes. Well she took my trousers and told me to come back in "a while", so I had time to have a gander at the various market wares, and indeed 20 minutes later they were fixed and she wouldn't accept any payment for it. But luckily these days you can't really stop someone scanning your QR code so I managed to send 5 kuai anyway.

Back home I had a few more sips of jing jiu and cola and promptly fell asleep before 4pm. When I woke up it was 5.20pm so I forced a shower and went out to the market again to see what this "red wine" place was up to. Well, not much it appeared. The green inflatable thing was up, and people were busy patching it. It appeared to be not much more than a large, inflatable gazebo, and underneath it was a bloke with a large portable speaker. He motioned to a chair and I sat down with him and chatted for a few minutes. There was definitely no food or drink visible...so much for a 5pm start! Then Li Kun rang me to invite me to eat out and that certainly seemed a better option.

The big green inflatable

He said he'd be at the place we ate with his and my families last year, so I slowly made my way there weaving through various streets as I knew he'd be a fair few minutes. But half an hour later I was having my doubts about whether he had really invited me tonight, so called him to see he'd just pinged me to say he'd arrived. So I got to table 12A and for once his eldest, Eva, was there at the table. Of course it was a fine meal, and another one with no beer for another nice change.

Dry meal while being entertained with some live music

Li Kun asked me how I got here and I said on foot as the weather was fine...not too hot and not too cold. He agreed, and for probably the first time in years he and I actually walked back to his office leaving his wife and kids to take a taxi. I was explaining how nice walking actually is, and that it's a form of exercise too. He agreed, but said not to walk more than 10,000 steps a day as it's not good for your knees. I started to argue that running would be much worse but thought better than to continue. On the way to his office he bumped into a mate he hadn't seen for 10 years who had just opened a new bbq shop, so said he'd be back to eat there soon. And then another mate he hadn't seen in a while. These two chance encounters alone justified the walk in my opinion.

Also, on the way back we passed the music shop where I'd bought my new guitar strings the other week. I asked Li Kun if they had pianos there but he said not but he asked anyway and in fact they did. We were led upstairs to a room with five very out-of-tune uprights and a baby grand. Well I was now sober but couldn't resist a rendition of Maple Leaf Rag, and then a bit of Mozart's Sonata kv304 that I've been learning recently in an attempt to accompany Tan on the violin. It's by far the most complicated piece I've attempted and I've probably bitten off more than I can chew but I relish the challenge, and even if I never master it it will have made me a better pianist. I think it was the first time Li Kun had seen me tickle the ivories and maybe he was a little impressed. We left understanding that I could come back to practise for 15 kuai an hour. I resolved to do so tomorrow.

At the office, the small bloke was there drinking tea alone. I need to ask more about him. His name for a start, and whether he's simply a mate or does he look after the place while Li Kun is away? Anyway we drank tea for half an hour before the small bloke brought out a pack of beers and poured himself one. I rather expected him to pour us one too but 5 minutes later I said I wouldn't sleep if I drank more tea (it was getting on for 10pm) and please to have two glasses. Li Kun thought I meant I wanted to drink two glasses of beer and laughed and said "no!" 20 glasses at least. I tried to explain I wanted two beer glasses so we could both have a drink but he clung on to his interpretation and found it funnier than I did....

Half an hour later or so Li Kun said some people were expecting us at Xiao Bai de Tian. Ok why not? It's sort of become the nearest thing to a local since early November last year. We walked up to our house where I picked up my red hoody lest it get colder, and we took my dian dong che for the 2-4 minute ride depending on the state of the traffic lights. There were more people there than usual, and a table of them invited me over to...yes cai ma of course. And of course one of them was from Bangxu and probably knew Tan's Erjie. So after 15 minutes of cai ma'ing every bloke except one who apparently couldn't, I joined Li Kun at his table where we were joined by the owner and another bloke for some peanuts and spicy edamame beans.

Within half an hour Nong pinged me to say they were in Miss You KTV with a foreigner. Oh no! I know I'm not the only one but I haven't seen another for ages. Well I couldn't really leave Xiao Bai de Tian so soon after arriving but I did tell Li Kun I'd go over there in a bit. During that musical meal that Nong had invited me to, Li Kun was also there, but I'd not introduced them (although I did introduce her to Huang Lei). Li Kun said he wouldn't go with me and I didn't try to hard to persuade him. Nong kept telling to me to hurry up, so eventually at getting on for half past midnight I left with Li Kun as he had changed his mind and wanted to go to (maybe a couple of beers helped change his mind).

There were still about 7-8 people there when we got there and indeed there was the foreigner. He was from Afghanistan and a really decent bloke. It was slightly surreal to be speaking in Mandarin with him, but I was quite glad he was happy to knock back a couple of beers with me. Apparently his girlfriend is just opening a shop in Pingguo which is why he is here, but he's based in Nanning. Phew.

Of course I had to perform, so Pengyou was put on for me. Then for old times‘ sake I did "No Matter What" for the first time in years. Li Kun joined in with the fun and sang a couple of songs too, and a merry time was had by all till we left at getting on for 2.30am. Nong pinged me a bit later to check I'd got back ok, and to say she liked my friend Li Kun. So all in all a rather successful evening.

Almost a normal day for 小年

Finally a day where almost nothing notable happened. I got up a bit later than normal, if normal is anything here. As I got a lift back last night I decided that after heating up the last xiang chang from yesterday and having that and a yoghurt for lunch, I'd walk to the train station to pick up the dian dong che. Well after the 29 degrees hit of yesterday in Tiandong's afternoon it was slightly cooler today but definitely short-sleeve weather, and even so I started to sweat so moved my walking pace to much more of a Pingguo one. It took just over 40 minutes but was some well-needed exercise.

Chuan Chuan had pinged me to say that Tan had ordered something and I was to pick it up at 兔喜超市. Right, I had this. Rabbit Happy Supermarket. Ok, let's find it. Hmm...the VPN wasn't working so I couldn't use Google Maps. Going to Baidu maps online made me install a maps app, so 145MB later I had it installed and searched for 兔喜超市 - hmm...there were two it seemed, so I plumped for the first one north of the guangchang. But once there I found nothing, so walked into a convenience store to ask the lady where it was. She took a look at my phone and told me it was at Yu Jing Hua Ting. What? Literally where I'm living. I thanked her and she asked if she could take a photo with me and of course she could, and ended up thanking me for some reason. Back home I looked around and found one of the places that takes parcels was called 兔喜生活..ah I should have known...but it's certainly not a bloody supermarket!

兔喜生活 is not 兔喜超市 the supermarket

With nothing to do I pinged Ma Laoban to see if he was about but he said he was going home to cook as it was 小年. I had to look this up but it seems to be like some sort of pre-New Year celebration where families eat together. Indeed, after finding my favourite place to get a refreshing mango juice and drink it in the park, Jiuma sent a message at gone 3pm to say we'd be eating together at 5pm at home. So I got home at 5pm on the dot only for her to say that they were out of gas and expecting a delivery. So I went for another walk and she said I could be up to an hour.

Mango juice in the warm February sun...nice

That gave me time to visit Beihai Huang, but he was talking to what looked like a mad man. Unfortunately the mad man then turned his attentions to me as Huang walked away. I put up with him for 5 minutes before making my excuses to go and eat. So I got back as Jiuma was calling me to come back at 5.40pm. It was a really nice meal and no beer for once. Except I paid a visit to the supermarket later to get some provisions and ended up having a chat with Mat on one of those rare evenings I didn't go out.

Up to Tiandong for a big meal with the runners

Deary me, I awoke at 6.45am fully-clothed under the duvet, with the 12-pack of beer on the chair at the end of the bed. I must have fallen straight to sleep as I got in last night. A combination of still being a bit ill, a lack of sleep, and too much red wine last night. Half an hour later I managed to doze of for a couple of hours though, until Yangwen sent me a message reminding me to bring my guitar to Tiandong later today. Oh what? Yes, I'd said I'd make it up there today a couple of days ago. Since then he'd heard I'd used my guitar and he wanted me to bring it there. So half an hour later I asked what time it started. 6.30pm. So sod it, I booked the 3.14pm train which gave me 2h30 to find a bite to eat and grab a shower.

On my walk I noticed that firstly it was positively warm again, and had to roll up my thin jumper sleeves. Annoyingly the yumi tang place had a sign on the closed door saying they had gone back to their home town for the New Year. So I walked in the direction of the jiaozi place instead. On my way I saw quite a few police on the road, pulling people over. I thought it may be to do with lack of helmets but there were loads of other people without helmets too who weren't getting pulled over. So I walked over to one of the police and asked him if it was illegal not to wear a helmet on a dian dong che, and he said indeed it was, and the same for a motorbike, and then he told me to get off the road as it wasn't safe!

Gone home for the New Year holidays...

So when I nearly got to the jiaozi place I popped into the place that fixed our dian dong che a few years ago to enquire about helmets. Yes of course they had some and he sold me a nice blue one for 45 kuai to replace the one that got nicked last week. He said it was particularly good quality and as if to prove it hit it repeatedly with his hand. Yes I'm sure that's the same as asphalt. But at least it was a conversation. Annoying, for the second time in 20 minutes I saw the sign on the jiaozi place saying they were gone for the New Year. So I went next door and picked up three sausages to take home instead. Then, as a sort of backup for any worrying moments to come, I picked up a 258ml bottle of jing jiu, which I mixed with the leftover cola when I got back.

My lunch on black stones (he still heated them up in the microwave)

So eaten and showered, I checked with Yangwen if I really needed to take the guitar, but he said I did. I took the dian dong che to the train station not realising how late I was running, as if having a guitar on my back would explain it. I parked up with 18 minutes to go before the departure and I still hadn't done security. Luckily there were no queues or issues with my passport so in order to expedite things I took out my portable charger to show the security person but she said to leave it in my bag and the people doing the x-rays or whatever it is would check it. But they didn't seem to see it, or the doctored cola, and the guitar got through fine too. So what could have been a close call ended up being fine, as was the 20 minute journey to Tiandong Bei.

Yangwen said he'd pick me up as the station was some way away from the guangchang, but I said I could make my own way and he advised getting the bus. This I did although it was packed, and I feared for the safety of my guitar. But at 3 kuai it made sense, although it took nearly half an hour to get to the centre of town, 10 minutes longer than the bloody train ride from Pingguo. But anyway, there he was waiting for me at the final bus stop, looking rather eccentric in his all-white outfit and cap. I sat on the back of his dian dong che and we drove to a local market where he bought some tofu and I walked around speaking to the locals until he called me to ask where I was. We then drove to some place that gave me a bloody fright.

Yangwen meeting me at the bus stop

It was a pretty huge place that looked like it could seat 200+ people, and had a huge stage. Earlier on I had asked Yangwen where we would be going and how many people there would be to sing for. I'm pretty sure he said there would only be 6-7 people at the table and I was mightily relieved after last night, but now I was confused. Anyway, I dumped my guitar and bag to one side, and we proceeded to lay nine tables with the appropriate bowls and chopsticks and stools, before bringing the food from where it was being cooked nearby. I helped one of the woman workers there download a load of photos and films from her Weixin on a PC to a local drive, so they could then put them on the huge screen behind the stage.

Err...nope...not going on that stage...

Laying out the spread for the meal later

Getting the food ready for later

I had to check with Yangwen. Were we to eat here tonight with up to 100 people? Yes. So much for 6-7 people, and I was back on full nervousness alert and reached for my emergency doctored cola. I was honest and said I'd be too nervous to sing in front of so many people, but he just said I didn't have to if I didn't want to (although he'd insisted on my bringing the guitar).

This cat didn't look too impressed

Soon after 6pm people started arriving and milling around, and by 6.30pm I started talking to some of them. It would have been nice to be told what exactly was going on, but I've gone beyond that stage of expectation. It transpired that the photos I'd downloaded previously were from a running club, and it was mainly the members of the said club that were coming tonight. And indeed, several people in yellow and white garb turned up and we started a photo session that lasted an age. It seemed that 15 out of the 18 or so running group were ladies, dressed in rather fetching shortish skirts, but I tried not to notice. There was a sort of madam-like women who seemed to be sort of in control.

Nice photo of the running club plus a few others (including a dodgy Englishman)

After the copious pics we settled down to eat, and of course the drink came 15 minutes later. It was a really comfortable meal although the madam ensured I caima'd with most of the people on the other tables. After half an hour or so a couple of the runners got on the stage to perform the handing out of the hong baos. But not before the MC called me by my name to come on stage to help them. Jeez I knew something like this would happen but I'd had a couple of beers to top up my cola so confidently made my way up and received my handful of red envelopes, and as the music started people came up to near the stage and we started handing them out. It was a lot more fun than I'd expected, and I realised I was well and truly equally in the centre of the evening.

Handing out hong baos with a couple of the runners...I was made to come on the stage...honest!

More food was taken and then the runners performed a dance routine that was...well not exactly perfectly choreographed, but energetic and fun anyway. Then a young girl performed a song though I had forgotten that I might have to do so. Then the female runners changed into qipaos and performed...well...walking in a ladylike manner it seemed. Hey it's part of the culture and I'm not going to judge.

The lady runners in their qipaos on the equivalent of a catwalk I suppose...and an idiot...there's always one

The evening went on like that...it was very fun and again unexpected. Yangwen then said his wife would drive us home instead of staying the night. Well, thanks that was fine but blimey let me know in advance next time please! I'd spent time bringing all my toiletries and clothes for tomorrow I needn't have. 1st world problems though.

In the end, despite me being pretty much up for it, there was no really appropriate time for Sound of Silence, as much as it might have been appreciated. Most of the people had gone and a core of about 20 of us put two tables together to continue eating and drinking till around 11pm. I like to think I gave a good account of myself despite not singing.

Yangwen's wife drove safely but slowly back to Pingguo, and I got back around 12.30am. I did manage a beer but got to sleep soon after that after another very full Guangxi day.

Bangxu wedding and weird singing night

As I was in the hotel I'd hoped to sleep in to nearly midday but I got a missed call from an unknown number ending 88 at 9.20am. Followed by a Weixin missed call a couple of minutes later from Erjie. Oh blimey, I guessed it was to do with the wedding that Tan had told me about and said I didn't need to go to. So I called her back and she said to hurry home as we were to drive to Bangxu for the wedding meal indeed. I thought about not going, as I had no idea how long it would go on for, and I'd promised to sing at the Zhong Yi place's function today too. But as it was family it was "family first" and I told her I'd be there around 10am.

Erjie was there with a few other Bangxu ladies and it didn't look like they were just about to leave. An hour passed and I realised it was this trick people use to get you somewhere so you can't do anything else. All they were doing was chatting so I told them I'd go to get a pair of shoes cleaned and they couldn't really complain, except to tell me the shop would be closed due to New Year. Well I got out of the house at least and of course the shop was as open as it could be. I popped in to Guanmart too to pick up some bits and pieces plus a 258ml bottle of jing jiu, should I need some Dutch courage later on.

I got back home at 11.45am to see they were only just leaving. I decanted the jing jiu into the remains of some cola in its bottle, and got into the front of the people carrier while Erjie, Jiuma, and the kid and her mother got in the back. At least the driver was pretty safe, but I'd taken a little medicine (not alcohol) before the journey so was reasonably relaxed about it. Until 12.20pm that was. I received a message from the Zhong Yi boss to say to go to the new Li Jia He Xian hotel at 1pm with my guitar. Oh horror, I was still a good half an hour from Bangxu and immediately was wracked with guilt. They'd been talking about this day for a week and I was heading in the wrong direction. I explained I thought it would be an evening affair (the truth), and said I'd let him know as soon as I was leaving Bangxu. Well he sent a location and then later told me I had the 4pm slot. Shit. Still I suppose there was a chance I'd be back by then.

At Bangxu we parked and walked up to a tiny village where we found loads of people cooking and cutting food, putting it in portions. But it looked far from ready. I'd naively thought we were coming for lunch but soon realised it was one of those "tricks" where they get you to be there early again. But anyway, it was quite good fun chatting to some of the kids there, getting them to say "my name is..." and then something I couldn't understand but tried to repeat anyway. I helped put out the tables and then to slightly allay my constant sense of guilt about my other date, had a wee sip for the jing jiu and cola, and it actually wasn't that bad.

Preparing portions for the wedding meal

That's quite a few chickens

Then, strangely, at 3pm we sat down to eat. I had no idea if it was now a late lunch or an early tea but wasn't complaining. The meat was cut into large chunks, as it customary here apparently, and within half an hour we'd finished and Jiuma was bagging up the remains, which accounted for 3/4 of all the food that was there. Erjie announced that we were now to leave but that I could stay to drink and play cai ma with the blokes. But I wasn't even tempted and made sure I got in the car with them. I pinged the Zhong Yi bloke to say I was on my way back, and would it still be ok to turn up late. Yes, it would be fine. I guess they'd rearrange my slot.

Erjie showing the rather large cuts of chicken at the meal

I wish I could fall asleep in a car so easily

In trepidation I managed to finish the cola mixture during the hour journey back. You never know if it will be a private room with 6-7 people or something much, much bigger. Back home I grabbed a shower and a shave, and made it to the hotel for about 6pm. But I'd accidentally forgotten my guitar, and the boss said to go and get it. Blimey, I actually thought they might have one there. He also said to put on a shirt. Hmmm...it looked like it wouldn't be a room of 6-7 people then. So 20 minutes later I was back with my black canvas shoes and black shirt with flamingos on as it's about the only thing with collars I have with me. I may also have chugged a small beer while back home.

Shit, it was worse than I'd imagined. A whole function room filled with well over 100 people, and already I could see Li Kun's guitar mate on the stage with a band. I sat with the Zhong Yi boss and grabbed a bite to eat, and looked around for a drink but I couldn't see anything. Eventually he brought a bottle of red wine to our table, saying there wasn't any beer. I wasn't going to complain, and for once was happy to ganbei it. I got chatting to some people round the table as it seemed there was enough entertainment for the moment and I literally told the boss I'd like to have a couple of drinks to calm my nerves.

So many people...

One woman to my left let it be known that she didn't have a husband (I'd already told her I was married) and asked if I could help her find an English boyfriend from 50-52 years old. Er, this is not the first time I've been asked this. I said I could take a picture of her and if I knew someone could show them. But she said no, she would send me a video of herself instead. This she did, and it was a rather eerie video of her singing some weird song in near black and white. Maybe that was the reason she was single.

Anyway, the band packed up, then there was some sort of weird goings-on on the stage, such as a woman balancing on one leg. Then the penny dropped a bit, and I reckoned I was in some sort of Chinese medicine function or promotion. This went on for a while after which I was a tad tipsy. I noticed some tables had left, so thought I had got away with it but NO! It was now my time and I was led to the stage where I put the capo on the 2nd fret and fret myself as I made sure it was in tune. As the previous band had gone there was no wire for my guitar, so one bloke stood to hold a microphone to my mouth, and another knelt to hold one to the guitar. Well my throat is still bad, and I don't think I gave a good rendition of Sound of Silence at all, but the 100 or so people who were still there clapped along and seemed very happy. I was even asked to do an encore so I did The Boxer as it was the easiest to remember the words to in my state. I remember I was straining a bit so missed out the fifth verse and cut the guitar bit at the end to being pretty minimal but I think I got away with it judging by the clapping.

Afterwards, the boss asked me something about the medicinal treatment I'd had the other day (while I was still on the stage). Err..I don't think it had had any effect but I said I was already feeling better (which was true, only not due to the treatment). This brought out another round of applause and I felt my presence now had been completely justified if only for getting this compliment from this foreigner. I said my xiexies and made my way off the stage after 10 long minutes. It was now 9pm, and I had a few more glasses until the event appeared to finish at 10pm. For some reason I picked up a crate of beers at the local shop at 10.20pm, but I didn't even attempt to open one and was fast asleep not long after that.

Visit to Yanjiang with Yangwen

Up at a reasonable 9.30am or so but didn't feel great so resolved not to do anything silly today. Lunch was boring pao mian but I needed something more than quail eggs. Zhang Yangwen had pinged me to go out to play ping pong at 10am but I still wasn't feeling great, so instead he said to go to play for 10 minutes around 7pm. This was much more doable though I'm not sure how much good 10 minutes would do.

Then Yangwen pinged me again to meet up, so as I had not much better to do I agreed to meet him outside his house by the supermarket. So I agreed to be there at 3pm and when that time rolled around he pinged me to check I was on my way. So much for being fashionably late as when I got there he bibbed me from his new car. Oh, apparently we were going to a place called Yanjiang a few km outside of Pingguo to pick up some vegetables. Ok fair enough. It was a a good 15 minute drive south east and I was surprised I'd never been there before or even heard about it.

Well we did indeed stop off by the market and Yangwen bought a few bags of qing cai. I could hear the word "Russian" being whispered by some of the store holders so I walked over to them with a smile and indeed they asked if I was Russian. It's one of the most popular guesses for where I'm from. I'd say in order when people guess where I'm from it goes USA, Russia, Germany, UK, China. Yes, some people seem to think I could be Chinese and the other day I was asked if I had a Chinese passport.

Yangwen buying some qing cai as you do

After the market we went for a stroll and Yangwen was explaining how Yanjiang is ancient and used to be a 古镇, or ancient outpost. All the people we passed peered at me unlike most people in Pingguo and I guess it was because I looked different. Indeed, at the river we stopped for a while and some kids came over to look at me. They were oh so sweet and I was happy to talk to them and let them look at my nose and touch my arms due to the colour being different.

We drove back around 5ish and when he dropped me off I decided to pop in to the supermarket to get a sneaky bottle of something. Well they only had pitbull and melon flavour vodka so I opted for the latter. Yangwen had said to meet up later to play some ping pong so I didn't have more than a couple of the yucky melon vodkas. Annoyingly, the dian dong che's lights weren't working, possibly due to the overnight rain. I've already had my helmet nicked so didn't want to give someone the chance of nicking me for being light- and helmet-less, so pinged Yangwen to say I'd be late as I'd be walking over. As it was, the ping pong place was too busy so he met me outside to say we'd go for a walk. That was absolutely fine by me so we did a couple of rounds of the football stadium along with quite a few joggers. Jeez this is something I need to get back to now after the last two weeks.

Not an amazing choice of vodka but better than a few years ago

Back home it was pretty busy and noisy with family, and I wanted to grab a shower but there were too many people. So I decided that for a little over £20 I'd book a hotel round the corner and get a bit of luxury. It was a good idea, not to mention much warmer than the house, and fun. I got a nice shower and a bloody soft bed for the first time in a while, although ended up chatting to Mat till gone 2.30am.

Strange contraption to boost my immune system and late bite with Li Kun

Well last night's quiz meant I didn't get up till 11am to the noise of A Heng's daughter in the living room. She's very cute but I wanted a wee and didn't really want to see the rest of the family so waited till they went out at nearly midday. After a refreshing wee I got back to my room and realised I'd need to eat. To the right of me was a half glass of jing jiu I'd obviously poured last night so at 12.16pm I poured it down my throat as it was medicinal, and then one more to help. That got me the inspiration to go out and get some jiaozi, after which I picked up some washing liquid along with some more jing jiu.

So back home I put on my other half of clothes even though the first half were still not properly dry. I don't care if Jiuma has a go at me - I'll definitely use the drier again if I need to. I waited till the clothes had finished and hoped that the predicted 17-18 degree weather would come tomorrow as I was dangerously out of clothes. At gone 3pm the bloke from the local Chinese medicine shop pinged me to go over and be "done" to fix my immune system. I had no intention of doing so so had a glass of jing jiu and at 5pm fell asleep for 90 minutes or so.

On waking up I felt a little bad, so pinged the bloke that I'd just had a siesta and he said they were still there waiting for me. So I had another "sod it" moment and went over. After a couple of cups of tea he got me to sit in a chair and take off my socks and shoes, then applied some gel to my soles and got me to place my feet on some electric thing. He then put some body warmer thing around my stomach and turned it on. Then he pulled the trigger of some thermometer gun at my ankle and it read 29.9 degrees. Whatever.

Weird contraption that was supposed to boost my immune system

I didn't feel anything in particular, other than a little bored as I saw there would be another 40 minutes of this, and I only had hot water to drink. But after 10 minutes he came back to check my ankle's temperature and it was now 38 degrees. I was supposed to be surprised, as I said I didn't feel any warmer. Then the woman came and spoke to me in Mandarin that would push the limits of most locals (I hope) and I nodded a bit and said that although I didn't feel hot, the insides of my foot were hot, and she said "Yes! You are so intelligent!". No, I'd only guessed what she was on about.

I don't honestly know what this thing was but they can use it on your neck (and no they didn't on mine)

I spent the next half an hour worrying that this would cost me £100 before realising I hadn't eaten since 1.40pm and was absolutely starving. When it finally finished I had a couple more glasses of tea with the boss and asked about paying but the woman said we'd talk about it in a couple of days. This is so typically Chinese, and I really don't mind it. But I also really don't want to come back and do this again. I left with them reminding me to come back tomorrow or the next day, and not to forget I had to play the guitar for them on the 31st. I said I hadn't forgotten.

It was getting on for 11pm so I pinged Li Kun to see if he was about. About he was, and I walked to his studio to find him and his family there. His kids are pretty close to me so I took them out to get some chocolate and toys at a nearby shop. Again, there is an innate trust between them and me, and when I got back I was only admonished for getting his son a toy car as he'd already got a toy vehicle early that day.

We ended up taking his car to Xiao Bai de Tian as we'd done a few times in November last year and ended up getting some very good noodles that the kids wolfed down too. After an hour or so Li Kun's wife drove back with the kids and the owner and another bloke came to our table for a chat. There was only one other table with people, two blokes and a young woman, and they had one of those dispensers of booze you can pour yourself using a tap. Well, I found out it was that vile er gou tou as at about 1am when they decided to leave the woman could barely walk. I hope one of the blokes was sober enough to get her home safely.

Simple but lovely meal at Xiao Bai de Tian with Li Kun and family

Another six beers were brought over to our table, and the other bloke who hitherto had not drunk with us then poured a glass of baijiu. He was also not a local so was relatively easy to understand. He was quite big and didn't seem to notice the cold as he only wore a vest. Maybe the coldest of the weather is over with now. Well we managed till nearly 2am before I said I was kun le so we said we'd finish the last beer before I managed to insist on paying (as it was me who effectively had invited them). 180 kuai for 12 beers and a load of portions of food that fed four adults and two kids is not to be sniffed at. Li Kun ordered a didi che home and wouldn't hear of me walking all of three minutes back! A brief chat with Mat at 2.30am and I was well and truly asleep shortly after 3am.

Walk with Zhang Yangwen and unexpected ye xiao with friend Nong

Really woke up to a nasty cold at 9am but at least managed an hour more of on-and-off dozing till the noises outside meant I couldn't anymore. Fair enough, it's their house more than mine and I've so far not really paid for much. Eventually they left just before midday so I grabbed the 2nd portion of jiaozi I'd bought yesterday and heated them up for lunch plus a yoghurt as I figured I'd need the energy.

I'd hoped for a siesta again which somewhat justified drinking the beer I'd poured last night as due to the weather it was still well under room temperature. That led to another but I wasn't really in the mood so just chilled until my mate Yang pinged me to go for a walk later if I wasn't feeling too bad. I was feeling bad, but think it must be worth getting out of the house at such times, so told him I'd pop over to the ping pong place around 6.30pm.

I admit to taking a carry-on of jing jiu for the walk, even though the dian dong che had finished charging (mercifully without the alarm going off this time). I got to the end of the guangchang when I realised I was bloody hungry, so walked to the football stadium where I knew there would be food vendors. Indeed I stopped at a place where the lady was saying something to me. In fact I had been on the phone to Andge for the last 10 minutes but he had to remove some plasterboard in the next 45 minutes before going on a date with Lis so I let him go and asked the lady what the stuff was. Well it was fried chicken and it didn't look the healthiest of options but I was ill so asked to try some. But no, of course she had to re-fry it so she ended up putting in 8 portions. I wasn't really in a position to argue and anyway it was only 10 kuai so I happily paid.

Getting an unhealthy portion of fried chicken while having a healthy conversation with the vendor

Yang pinged me to ask where I was and I told him I was having a bite. I didn't expect it to take 10 minutes to re-fry the chicken and wondered if in fact it was raw but already battered. It didn't really matter. As someone who had had a couple of beers and some jing jiu it really hit the spot and I ate it on the way to the table tennis centre, being careful to put almost all the bones in the copious bins provided. Once at the table tennis place I saw Haiwei practising with his son as they have a competition soon. It wasn't as busy as usual but it wasn't yet 8pm either. I marvelled at the skills of a probably 10 year old boy playing with probably his grandmother who was also pretty nifty. It cemented my opinion that this is in some way the greatest sport on this earth. Open to nearly everyone, and most levels of ability. It's the one sport that connects my life in China to that in the UK. I must remember to get my bat re-skinned this time!

Yang turned up wearing a face mask and a pink woolly hat. I wouldn't have recognised him had he not shouted out "Duoming!". Inside the table tennis place he met someone he knew and said "hao jiu bu jian" (long time no see), and the other bloke simply said it was because Yang hadn't come over for a while. Pretty logical really. Yang and I ended up going for a walk and having a chat like old times. He was saying that when you have a cold you must drink warm water and abstain from alcohol. I agreed with him, while sneakily grabbing a sip of my jing jiu. Then I said that in the west when you have a cold it was ok to mix whisky with lemon and honey and hot water, and then he said that was ok.

We ended up at the guangchang watching some elders perform music and singing and I liked it more than I would normally. Yet another reason I could envisage myself here in latter years. They're not professionals, but love to get together and perform and entertain, for free. I was the only person who clapped the first performance we saw, but for the next two other people joined in with the applause. It's a bit pathetic that had I not had a couple of nips of jing jiu I probably wouldn't have dared clap on my own.

Some of the elders making music in the guangchang

I left Yang on the corner of the guangchang as he needed an early night as would be up at 5.30am to jog and then play ping pong. I walked home to chill but at 10.21pm my friend Nong pinged me to say they were about to start drinking and sent me the location, which was where I'd just said goodbye to Yang an hour ago. I was ill, I needed sleep, so of course I told her I'd be over in a bit.

I've known this Nong for about 18 years now and we're good mates. I walked over and went to the place I'd where I'd eaten with the Shandong bloke a week or so ago but couldn't find the roof garden where Nong was. So it ended up being a phone call and I had to go downstairs again to meet her and take a lift up. She was with a couple of mates in a sort of pod on the roof as you do. Interestingly, the only alcohol was the jing jiu I'd already partaken of earlier and I asked if it was really true that it was medicinal. Yes, it really was! Well, normally I'd ask about clinical trials but I really thought that would be inappropriate. The one thing I didn't do was add Red Bull to the jing jiu though as others were doing. I know that here it's meant to be much stronger than in the west, and only had it once about 8 years ago and that was enough.

Despite my cold it was a lovely meal and muscle boss turned up a bit later with three more bottles of the jing jiu. We laughed about how much we'd forgotten about the music meal the other day, and once again I realised I was just a bloke with mates and didn't feel like a foreigner. It may seem pathetic but it's evenings like this that I feel justify my coming back on my own.

With Xiao Nong and friends in our pod eating and drinking jing jiu - is that a bloody Xmas tree on the left?

At 1am or whenever, we decided to leave, and muscle boss insisted on giving me a lift back in his car. I admit to buying a last bottle of jing jiu as I thought the lads might be up and indeed they were and we dissolved into a silly quiz as Mat's classes had all be cancelled tomorrow and it was the mid-afternoon for Andge and Awl. Somehow I made it till 3am but only had the energy to apologise to say I would crash out and indeed I did 30 seconds later.

Unexpected outside evening meal then inside then empty KTV

Up at a rude 9am to find a missed call from Awl at 8am. So I'd had about seven hours' sleep but it didn't feel like it as I was suffering more from my cold and now had a hangover. Blimey, all these years and I still don't know the word for "hangover". It's almost something to be proud of you don't tend to get them if you stick to beer. Ok for future reference it's 宿醉.

I forced myself to go out and get some jiaozi at midday then picked up some more jing jiu and orange juice from Guanmart. Not that I really wanted orange juice but rather it came with a free fruit holder I think. Or at least something to let the water rinse away from. Back home I very much intended to have some more kip and that was my justification for a couple of swigs of the jing jiu. It got to nearly 5pm and I was about to drop off as I was doing Tan's tax return, when I realised Zheng was playing in the Australian Open final. As we'd watched the semi with Boss Zhou, I decided to ping A Wu to see if he was watching it. I'm not really sure why I asked as I was about to sleep. He said he wasn't, and asked if anyone had invited me to eat and I said no, and that I had a cold. So he chastised me for not wearing enough clothes then told me to go to Boss Zhou's to eat.

Well sod it, there were family in the house including the little 3 year old so it was quite noisy. So I grabbed a shower and a coffee and walked over in an effort to wake up. But no-one was in Boss Zhou's place. I called A Wu and he sent a location which was another 5 minutes walk away. Why he didn't send this in the first place is a question not really worth asking. Well I'd picked up 4 jin of long yan from Thailand so at least I would have a gift, and ended up walking down to the end of a road to find about 5 tables full of people eating, like it was quite a big do.

I was introduced to the boss and handed over the long yan and then settled next to A Wu before devouring some lovely nosh as I hadn't realised how hungry I was. I hardly recognised anyone, but of course it was a very friendly affair. After 15 minutes a car turned up with beer and baijiu, and 15 minutes later again I'd ganbeid most of the men there. A Wu and I then went inside to another table with mostly women and started to play mo pai. I hope one day I'll properly understand the rules but I just accepted their word as to how many glasses we had to drink after most rounds.

Playing mo pai and mostly losing

It was like this pretty much all the time...

A little later Boss Zhou himself turned up so more ganbeiing ensued. I was getting really tired by now, but A Wu had said we were going to sing song in a bit. I really wasn't up for this but I know Boss Zhou owns the place so it may seem rude not to go. So some time after 11pm Boss Zhou, A Wu, and I walked over and went to an empty room on the 4th floor, and almost immediately two young ladies joined us. I guessed they were some sort of "ushers" and it felt like more objectification. I pinged Xiao Nong, who just happened to be in the same building and she came up for a couple of glasses. Then I went down with her to her room which only had two other blokes in and nobody was singing. In fact the whole place seemed pretty empty as we walked past other rooms in the corridor. Weird for a Saturday night and it wasn't exactly early.

When I went back upstairs to Boss Zhou's room I expected it to be busier but no-one else had turned up. It was the flattest KTV experience I've ever had. Around 1.30am I must have made my excuses and left, and walked home almost a zombie, and did my usual trick of pouring a beer that would not see my mouth.

Big music meal with Nong and Huang Lei and Li Kun and many other friends

A couple of days ago my friend Nong had invited me to go to a "beat" meal, and even sent me a personalised invitation (well it was digital so not that special), and I knew it would be this evening. So I was pissed off to wake up early feeling pretty shite. I resolved that I would make it though so late morning I walked to the yumi tang place again to have a very early lunch. The walk did me good, though it's still bitterly cold here. I finished my meal with a bit of jing jiu which I've been told multiple times contains medicinal elements. But it also contains alcohol and I knew if I was going to be up for tonight I'd need a hefty siesta.

Personalised invitation to the music meal

So back home I got ready to sleep before realising I'd forgotten to get bin bags. Bin bags. What a trivial thing to have to get but here it's the chance of a conversation and indeed on the second shop I hit I showed the bloke the last bag I had and asked if he had any the same size and of course he danced to the back of the shop to return with exactly what I wanted for 12 kuai. Back home after a tad more jing jiu I did indeed manage to get some kip after confirming with Huang Lei that Xiao Nong had invited me...he kindly said that if I didn't have an invitation that he'd invite me.

The pathetic fun of buying bin bags

Up at a refreshing 5pm I grabbed a shower and at 5.50pm Nong sent me the location and I turned up around 6.15pm to an outside space with about 12 tables full of food and people and of course a stage at the back (or front depending on how you look at it). Oh dear...that stage meant they would want me on it later....

Well it was another cracking meal and I saw Huang Lei and Li Kun turn up. I'm slightly surprised Li Kun hadn't already invited me or at least told me about it. But he wasn't surprised to see me anyway. Looking around I saw faces I knew on nearly every table. I probably knew about 15% of those in attendance and it really made a big difference from those other anonymous meals I've attended. The 1513 beer was poured aplenty as was the bai jiu, and before long I was table-hopping as you do.

I guess because I'm not feeling too well I got a bit light-headed on the 2.5% brew, but when I was asked to get on stage I was sober enough to politely refuse. But then I thought about who pays for these meals. There must have been over 100 people, like a small wedding, and I was there enjoying myself at someone's expense. So after the live music started (another aspect of the entertainment), and after a few more ganbeis I refused to refuse when asked again.

Where we ate and drank and sang

Blimey I've picked up a guitar in front of people I don't know before, but it's always been a limited number of people and generally in a private room. Now I was outside with 100+ onlookers of whom I knew maybe 20. But sod it, I did The Boxer and Sound of Silence from memory, although I think I repeated one of the verses as my phone turned off its screen part way through the first one. I guess no-one noticed anyway. I think that's all I did but I'm not totally sure. I must have been rather tipsy to have got up in front of so many people in the first place but I guess I could see it as practice for the Bangxu "festival" in a couple of weeks.

I didn't spend too much more time socialising after that if my memory serves me correctly, and once home at getting on for 1am did the robotic thing of pouring myself a beer and not touching it.

Unexpected Li Kun lunch before meal at "Chamber of Commerce"

Well finally I got a decent amount of sleep thanks to being ill and not being too silly last night. Around 10am I noticed that Li Kun had "tickled" me last night at 12:45 too. No doubt to go for a drink so I'm glad I'd gone to bed. But I thought I should at least invite him for lunch so pinged him and he had a go at me for going to bed so early last night.... But yes he said he'd finish his shift at 12pm so I said I'd come over then. 

I plugged in the dian dong che shortly after 11am. I'll no longer plug it in overnight as it has a tendency to set the alarm off and wake everyone up. And of course half an hour later it went off but at least I could turn it off from the house to avoid annoying too many people for too long. I grabbed a shower before needing to leave but damn and blast if I couldn't hear it going off again while I had shampoo in my hair. Well it made for a shorter shower than I'd hoped for and I wasn't dry when I ran out to turn it off again only to see that Jiuma was lying on the sofa watching tv. Well...I ran back to the bathroom to grab my clothes and was freezing as got back to my room. I unguiltily put the heater I brought on full blast for a few minutes to minimise my discomfort as quickly robed.

At 11.49 Li Kun said I could come over then. Fair enough I was a bit peckish. So at 12.00 I unplugged the dian dong che and got there 5 minutes later. He beckoned me to sit down. What? Oh, apparently someone was coming to pick us up. Well so much for going for some simple noodles.... I recognised the driver by his face and voice but that was it, and we drove up to the government place to the north of the guangchang where we picked up a couple more people including 唐海洋 whom I met on the trip to Tiandong a couple of months ago and is a colleague/partner of Li Kun.

It transpired that we were going to Pingguo Lu, the first time for me in a few years. We arrived 20 minutes later after picking up someone else and got off at at Sichuan restaurant. When we got to the room there were already about 6 other people, mostly ladies, and I realised this event must have been planned. The meal was great, as was the company, even if I had great difficulty following their local Mandarin dialect. Nothing other than tea was imbibed and I was rather grateful for that as was not planning a siesta.

Lovely impromptu meal

We said thanks to the owner, who'd been living here for 29 years so beats me hands down, then drove back to Li Kun's studio. So much for working this afternoon. We ended up playing a card game that at first I didn't understand at all but then got to really appreciate. There's four of you and you get 13 cards each. Then the person with the 2 of diamonds must lead, and can either put that, or 2 2s or basically any poker hand including that card. The next player must improve on that hand or pass. If you were the last person to go and no-one else can go you start again by putting down whatever you want. The idea is to get rid of all your cards and when someone does the others have to drink one glass for each three cards they have left in their hands. At least that's what I gathered...it's a bit more nuanced than that.

Li Kun reckons it's called suo hu in English but I have my doubts

I played the first few games with 唐海洋 helping me and lost badly. But I was finally getting it and started playing by myself and won! I mentioned that as soon as she stopped helping me was when I won and they all seemed to think that was much funnier than it really was. I still don't really get it as it seems if someone puts down a run on 3.4.5.6.7 you can cover it with a 3&2. I'll definitely investigate the rules more though as it seems like a great mix of poker and shithead.

I'd love to understand how the scores were worked out

A Wu had reminded me to go to meet Boss Zhou at the "Chamber of Commerce", so I thought I'd better get back at 4pm to grab a shower and find some decent clothes...could this be some government thing? Well we met outside my place at getting on for 6pm and he didn't have his car so we walked to Boss Zhou's place by the KTV place as we've been to many a time. We stopped off to get some cherries first, and A Wu explained (for the first time) that Boss Zhou actually owned the KTV place. Ah...guai bu de we often go there!

So it ended up that the "Chamber of Commerce" was simply Boss Zhou's place and as usual there was a table of food waiting for us. Boss Zhou was as usual happy to see me and sat next to me and we spent at least 20 minutes eating before there was even a peep of any beer or wine. But it certainly came. And it was of course very enjoyable as we watched Zheng beat Yastremska in a brilliant match. We were quite transfixed for a lot of it, except for when ganbeiing. After the match came cai ma of course, then we watched the last half an hour of South Korea v Malaysia in the Asian cup and saw a very unlikely 3-3 draw with a late goal from the Malaysians who probably didn't deserve it.

Great food in Boss Zhou's "Chamber of Commerce"

Of course I was flagging so A Wu and I left 11pmish. We walked back but came upon a friend drinking tea in his place and of course stopped there for a few minutes but I insisted on drinking water in case the tea was caffeinated. I'd planned on an early night and got back on foot soon after 11pm and only had a single beer before the earliest night this year.

Back to Yumi tang and another bite with A Wu and friends

Finally a normalish time of getting up around 8am. I tried to sleep in but my cough wouldn't let me so as I was ill I decided to have a "proper" breakfast of pao mian, and wolfed every last bit down. I could hear Jiuma and Tan's brother talking/shouting in the living room so didn't emerge till gone 11am when I'd heard them leave. The place stank of smoke of course, so I decided I'd go for a longish walk after wrapping up appropriately. I'd thought to bring my fingerless gloves, and they really made sense, but I noticed almost no-one else wore gloves of any description. Sure, the bike drivers all had built-in gauntlets but other than that, despite layers upon layers of clothes, no gloves. There must be a reason for it and I'll try to find it out.

I walked all round the shop and it just felt more and more normal. I happened upon our favourite yumi tang place and as it was now getting on for 1pm decided to ask if they had any and indeed they did. So one of those and a portion of fried egg with greens was just perfect at that time. But there was only one other table being used at this time. I guess a combination of the weather and the convenience of deliveries meant few people would need to come in person. Well I had, and the manager recognised me and said "hao jiu bu jian" as it had been getting on for five years.

An old favourite for the kids and me...yumi tang

So after my little adrenalin buzz I popped into the Zhong Xin supermarket for the first time in many a year to pick up some yoghurt and more noodles. One of the assistants pointed at a can of German beer as if to suggest it to me and I told her it was too strong. The she burst into conversation about how "standard" my Mandarin was and I told her I'd been coming for over 20 years so had just picked it up. But it was still another little buzz to have a random conversation like that.

Back home I took some medicine for my cough and a little alcohol medicine for my cold and had a brief chat with Awl till I managed some shut-eye around 5pm for an hour or so. Then A Wu pinged me at 9.30pm to go for a drink with friends. I didn't massively feel like it but managed a beer to get me more in the mood and biked it to the same place as the other day where there were a few blokes drinking 5% German beer. It really tasted too strong but I had to do a few ganbeis and felt the effect, so managed to move on to the local stuff for a while.

Li Mingda turned up a bit later but I didn't recognise him which was embarrassing as A Wu is his dad and we'd met up in the summer. I said it was due to his huge square glasses which was true to some extent. Well he, as well as the others, continued to smoke and drink as if it was going out of fashion. I managed to survive at cai ma but at getting on for midnight was flagging badly, so Li Mingda led me out with his arm over my shoulders like we were old buddies, and I said we'd meet again as I slowly took the dian dong che home.

Li Mingda second from left...I should have recognised him...

I poured a beer almost without thinking about it but had no intention to drink it. I noticed someone trying to call me at 12.45 but just couldn't be bothered to answer and fell asleep as I saw them calling me again.

Cracking meal with Huang Lei's boss and friends

Got up at a decent 12:07pm and went for a well-needed portion of jiaozi again. I should really branch out but it's just the right size and hits the point. Uncle Yellow had pinged me two minutes before I got up to ask if I was free this evening. Indeed I was so he said he'd be in contact later in the afternoon. But as the afternoon wore on I felt worse and worse. I'd had a bit of a cough but now was just feeling in general bad, and I know the booze last night/this morning hadn't helped.

Ah my lovely jiaozi...

So I wasn't tempted to imbibe at all. But Uncle Yellow pinged me a location to go and eat at 6.30pm so I knew that that would mean drinking again. So there was one thing for it...for the third day in a row I managed the dumbbell exercises - this time on the legs and abs and it bloody hurt. I forced myself till the end and didn't feel any better when it was done, other than mentally glad that I'd forced myself. By now it was getting on for 6pm so I grabbed a shower but still didn't really feel like going. Even after forcing a small 3.3% beer down me I thought twice about going, but I didn't know who would be there and didn't want to upset Uncle Yellow so got on the bike and turned up at the shop only 15 minutes late.

Well the location he'd sent me was a shop, and I confirmed with the shop owner. She was very complimentary about my Mandarin and while we were talking a bloke turned up and had heard me mention Uncle Yellow's real name Huang Lei. He said he was also going there, so I'd go with him. It was actually on the other side of the building and we'd need to take a lift up, but once there I realised I hadn't brought anything so went back round to the shop which of course sold fruit and bought a nice box of wrapped oranges for 35 kuai. I went back to the lift but the bloke said he was waiting for another bloke now and just to go up. But of course the lift needed a card, which I explained to him, and he came inside and of course there was a card hanging up above the place to scan it. So much for security.

Up at the 7th floor I was glad to see both women and men milling around. The food hadn't been served so I wasn't late, but was glad I'd made the effort to bring the oranges as most others had too. It transpired it was Huang Lei's (for I should use his proper name) boss's meal, and he'd invited a number of the people who work for him. I'd not met him before and he bade me sit down beside him at the big round table which was to be for the men, while the womenfolk had their oblong table on the other side of the room where there was no smoking.

Meal at Huang Lei's boss's place

Well I was still feeling shit and could barely stomach any of the food, and wasn't looking forward to the beer. But Huang Lei was there so as one of the only three beer drinkers I did my best and after 10 minutes of eating started ganbeiing as you do. It took about five glasses before I felt confident enough that I would make it through, and it ended up being a really cool evening. Yes it was mostly blokes, but they were all in the right mood and of course all wanted to ganbei with me. Eventually I stood up and ganbeid with the boss's wife, which was taken as a nice gesture as so far it had all been the blokes. Then, predictably, we descended into cai ma and I gave a reasonable account of myself.

There were many red faces from the baijiu drinking blokes, but no-one got shitfaced and I stayed a while even after Huang Lei left with his younger son. Apparently we were to go to some music place on Friday with Xiao Nong. Cool. When I was ready to go at getting on for 11pm Huang Lei's boss personally escorted me down in the lift and gave me a big handshake to thank me for coming. But no...thank you for inviting me! Of course we said we'd meet up again soon but who know when or if that will happen.

Tan's brother and Jiuma were home when I got back but as I wasn't feeling great I went straight to bed for perhaps the first pre-midnight sleep this year.