Old-style ring-pulls

Almost falling into a routine of waking up at 7.15am, getting Leilei washed and brushed, and driving him to school in time for 8am where he'll start crying when I leave. The kids all sleep from around 12-2pm so he's not tired afterwards. Normally we'll try to have a bite to eat when he gets back, then Tian Tian jie jie (big sister - Lin Hong's daughter who's 9 years old) will ring us up asking to take him out to the town square. He loves that - lots of space to run around under the myriad lights, with lots to keep him occupied. I'm really impressed with this square. Two years ago it was impressive, but now they've added huge water features with carp and lots more stuff for the kids. It's about 15-20 times the size of Trafalgar Square to give it some perspective. I'll try to take some photos when I'm there during the daytime.

Tan and Xixi came back from Nanning on Friday afternoon so I'm no longer a single dad! Xixi remembered me after over a week which was the most important thing. We all went to Leilei's school to pick him up and he'd been given a Red Flag (Chinese equivalent of a gold star). The teachers really like him there.

In between working and waiting for the rest of the family to come back I had fun flicking can ring-pulls around the house such as I hadn't done since about 1977. It was more fun than I should admit.


Remember the old-style ring-pulls? Brought me right back....

Shop opening and driving in Pingguo

Took Leilei to school on my own this time. I forgot to mention Tan's sister has lent us her car while we're in Pingguo. I did ask whether she would miss it in Nanning but apparently she hasn't learnt to drive yet - she wants to learn with Tan next month.... She does have a driver, however, but as she has so many friends she won't miss the car.

Well that's ok by me, although we rarely justify using the car as we could always walk or take a 15p taxi. I suppose it makes a 4 minute 3-wheel taxi ride into a 2 minute car drive. I'm not sure how legal it all is though. Tax, insurance, seat belts, obeying red lights etc all seem to be the stuff of the distant future here.

As I was driving Leilei to school I got a phone call from Xiao Li telling me to hurry up and come to his friend's shop that was opening at that moment. So I left a crying son again to meet him at the site of the new shoe shop where we had to look around as if we were interested in buying some of the leather shoes of dubious 80's styling while being filmed by what I hoped was a mate and not someone from the local media.

Septwolves shop (yes is it a brand with seven wolves)

I ended up buying two pairs of boxer shorts (large size) that were too small and made Primark look like a top quality brand. Afterwards I had to go to a meal where beer was being served. I really didn't want to, as I was working later, but didn't have much choice and sneaked away a few before realising the benefits of a cheeky siesta.

I took Leilei to Xiao Li's house for supper tonight with the intention of leaving the car there and getting a cab home as I knew I'd be offered beers. I mentioned I was thinking of buying an electric bike to take back to the UK but apparently they will be too expensive to send and may not pass quality control. Pity that, but anyway I'll be able to use his wife's.

After a good meal where Leilei actually ate some yu mi zhou (sweetcorn soup), we went back - Xiao Li saying it was fine to drive after a few drinks. Well I'd only had a couple of weak beers and actually it was a lot easier to drive that way; no-one waits to turn left - you just move that way and people move out of your way. It takes some getting used to but now I'm quite happy driving here sober.

First day at school and haircut

Woke up at 7am to get Leilei ready for school. Lin Hong came around 7.45 and we drove behind her to the new you er yuan (sort of nursery/school) just next to the town square. It's a pretty nice building and there are hundreds of kids all apparently around the same age who go there.

To my surprise Lin Hong pointed out another Lao Wei (foreigner) who was leaving as we were entering. Apparently there is an American family with three kids living in Pingguo. I didn't speak to the bloke but sort of casually nodded my head to say "you're not alone now". I've seen two or three foreigners here before (teachers or involved with the big Aluminium company) but this is the first I've heard about some living here...

Well Leilei wasn't too keen on me leaving him and started to cry, probably because he didn't know anyone there. I sat with him in the middle of the class for a bit but he still wasn't having me leave so I just had to go and let him struggle with the teacher. I felt bad but when I came to pick him up she said he'd been good although weed himself (sometimes he won't tell you he needs to go).

Leilei's new school in Pingguo

Leilei's class (can you spot him?)

In the evening we ate at Xiao Li's house and I took the opportunity to wash some clothes. We need to get a washing machine this week. Later I took Leilei to get his hair cut at Tan's friend Lao Ma's salon. He'd promised that after I got my hair cut he'd do his, but as soon as it was his turn he said "no". It proved impossible to get him into the chair, even on my knee, until I gave him the electric razor to play with. Unfortunately he started using it to shave the hairs on my forearms. In fact that was the only time he'd allow Lao Ma to cut his hair. So by the time she was done I had patches of shaved forearm to show for my efforts.

My partially shaved arm - the cost of Leilei's haircut

Preparing for school

After going to bed at 2.30am I managed to sleep in till 9.30. Felt quite refreshed. Went to buy a school bag, toothbrush and a cup for Leilei as he is going to school tomorrow. How exciting!

During the meanwhile here are a couple of photos of our house.


Leilei washing the kitchen floor


The living room with focus on the television


The master bedroom with Master Leilei claiming ownership


The "third bedroom" that is pretty much just an extension of the master bedroom, where I do my work


Ah - a proper toilet in one of two bathrooms both with showers

Tea with Ma Laoban and friends over again for dinner

Woke up at 5am again.
I got a call from Tan in Nanning saying Leilei wasn't eating or showering so needed to come back to Pingguo to be with me. A Zheng, the driver for the Pingguo leader came to our place to drive me. We had to wait for Tan's brother's wife who was going to Nanning too, plus some other woman I'd not seen before. Xixi seemed very content. We stayed for a meal then went back to Pingguo. As soon as we arrived back, Leilei was whisked off by Tian Tian Jie Jie (A Zheng's daughter) to play at the town square.

In the evening I went to see my friend Ma Lao Ban (literally Horse Boss) - Xiao Li laughs too much every time he says that - sounds more like "Hoss Boss". He owns a computer shop and spends most of his time upstairs drinking tea. I used to pop in there quite frequently for a cuppa as it is conveniently situated next to the beer shop where they know me as a regular.


Ma Lao Ban's house, with Xiao Li in Man City kit and a couple of friends

Later we got a load of duck feet and prawns and invited some friends around to our house where we got through a few bottles of beer while watching some English footy.


Friends around for a late meal

Friends round for dinner

Why oh why do I keep waking up between 4.30 and 5.30? At least I get some time to myself then. The good news is that Man City are into the group stages of the UEFA cup. I had intended to stay up till 2.45am to watch it but exhaustion set in at 1.

Xiao Li and I met uncle Yellow in the late morning and went out to have breakfast. Uncle Yellow is a mate I met the first time we took Leilei to China in 2005. We then went shopping for house things. We returned with:
an electric desk fan, 2 bags of disposable chopsticks (apparently when friends are around to eat they shouldn't use the family's ones), a set of toothpicks and a toothpick holder, 4 metal plates, 2 large metal bowls, 1 tray, 2 washing up-like bowls, 1 bowl with holes in it, more stuff i can't remember.

This evening we cooked food at home instead of going out and had a few friends come round.

Internet

I had a phone call late last night that I didn’t answer. Turns out it was from work but the issue was fixed anyway. But I used that as a pretext for going back to Pingguo to do some work. Before I left I went to the local large European-style supermarket to look for some tonic water to go with a couple of bottles of gin I’d bought as presents. Of course there was none there but at least it was a trip I could do on my own. It’s a ten minute walk and it caused concern that I wasn’t taking a taxi. Last time I went there with Tan and A Heng we waited 10 minutes for a taxi anyway. And each trip is 8 kuai anyway which is about 50p. I bought some pyjamas and pants for Leilei, and some coffee and coffeemate for me.

Tan's brother drove A Heng and me back to Pingguo in the afternoon.

I'd told our landlady that I needed internet access and that had been arranged. However the modem that you get is only good for one computer. I had brought my wireless modem/router but was told by the people who work for China Telecom that I couldn't use that.

After I'd set up the internet with my wireless router we went out to eat bbq and meet up with more friends some of whom i knew from last time. We played drinking games and managed to get a few of them pretty drunk not that they needed much help. Got back around midnight and as Xiao Li's wife had gone to Nanning to be with Tan he stayed in Leilei's room. First night without kids!

Fireworks at 4.45am for National Day

Awoke to the sound of huge explosions at 4.45am. Then realised it was China’s national day and this was the first of a series of loud noises we would be subject to this week. This makes Valencia’s fallas seem tame.

It is traditional for families to get together at this time, so Tan’s brother came to pick us up in Tan’s sister’s car to go back to Nanning. It was rather squashed as his son A Heng also came. I was quite uncomfortable with Xixi on my lap in the front seat but we got there safely enough. Tan’s sister’s first child Chuan Chuan was there, and so was her elder sister and her son Ling Ming. I hadn’t seen these for two years so it was good to get together again.


Don't drive tiredly

It ended up being a gathering of some 15 people and Tan’s sister2’s boyfriend Lao Li did the cooking – there was a lot of meat and seafood. And beer for the boys. Actually when the food was nearly ready I noticed a distinct lack of beer so I made the 5 minute walk to the nearest place to buy a pack of nine Li Quan bottles as you do. Or don’t as it turns out. The security man at the entrance to the apartment complex started telling me off. I thought maybe you weren’t allowed to bring alcohol into the complex but he was just telling me I should have ordered someone to deliver it like everyone else does. I preferred doing it myself though as I do get rather cosseted over here and it gets quite suffocating at times.


Lovely grub

When I got to the house it transpired that two more nine-packs had been delivered during the ten minutes I was away, so we had 27 bottles of beer between the four men that drink. The meal was excellent and we only got through around 14 bottles which isn’t that much when you think about it.

Up at 4.30am - badminton and sing song and bbq

Somehow woke up at 4.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep.
I looked after the kids until Lin Hong came to take them out, which I appreciated but wasn't able to take advantage of by falling back to sleep.

Our flat is on the 2nd floor (3rd if you are foreign)

At some stage I went out to play badminton with Xiao Li, followed by a meal with a couple of his friends. I was dog-tired but he wanted to go out and “sing song” (karaoke). I said I needed a rest so we compromised by going to “wash hair”, which is an excellent way to spend one hour, being pampered by a young lady who not only washes hair, and face, and ears, but also massages all over too.

Xixi with Xiao Li (A Wu) and his wife Xiao Wei (A Ni)

I could have slept after that but we got up and went to see a number of friends in what looks like a new karaoke place. Our room already had about 10 drunk men and 5 sober women in it. I had to drink about 20 glasses of beer but the glasses were more like shot glasses so it was a relatively sober affair. Luckily Tan called soon after I’d arrived and said there were some people at the barbeque place who wanted to see me so I had an excuse to leave.

Bbq was very nice. Around 11.30pm Lin Hong came back with the kids from the town square. They’d had a great time apparently, playing fishing (plastic fishes) as you do. It’s strange that there is so much more to do here for the kids than in London. Not because London doesn’t have places to go, but I think it’s just down to the hot weather and the fact that everywhere is a short, cheap ride away. Xixi fell asleep in another aunt’s arms – and we went home around midnight - sleep followed shortly afterwards which was a good thing as we needed to go to Nanning the next day to be with the family for China's National Day.

Back to Pingguo for meals and new apartment

Waipo was in her element looking after Xixi as much as she could and genuinely loving every minute of it. It seemed we wouldn't be able to drag her out of her arms despite her 70+ years and apparent frailty. But it was a very nice feeling to see the family bonding between them and it seemed to be reciprocated by Xixi.

Xixi with Waipo - where she stayed much of the time

Tan wanted to stay in Nanning for a week but we were in a smallish place with all our bags so I said we’d first move our stuff to Pingguo where we could at least try to settle for a few days. So Lin Hong (a cousin) and her husband A Zheng and daughter Tian Tian came to pick us up in the afternoon. A Zheng's job is to drive the head of Pingguo county around. One of the perks of this job is that he can use the car for personal use when not working. Additionally he can pay for meals by signing for them but of course we won’t be taking advantage of that…hmm. This time the car was a brand new Isuzu 4x4 with huge wheels that really looked like it was designed for off-road use and not taking kids to school.

A Zheng's work car

Fortunately, since the last time we were here two years ago they have finished building the motorway that links Pingguo to Nanning. Now it only takes around 50 minutes, but getting to the motorway from central Nanning can take over half an hour, so in fact the door-to-door journey is around 1h40. But you ask someone from Pingguo how long the journey is and they’ll tell you 50 minutes (they are proud of the new road).

We arrived around 2pm and immediately found our good friends Xiao Li and Xiao Wei and their son Li Ming Da. I gave them both a big hug as we hadn’t seen each other for two years. For the Chinese, though, big greetings don’t really exist – Tan merely raised her hand at Xiao Wei. That used to be strange to me but it’s just culture. We went out straightaway to a nice restaurant for a good meal, but I was told not to eat too much as we were going for another one at 5pm.

After the meal we went to see the apartment we’d be staying in for the next three months. It’s a nice, rather simple two-bedroomed place (not three as Tan had told me) with a sort-of adjoining study room to the main bedroom as well as an en-suite bathroom with a western toilet! Yes! There aren’t many of those in Pingguo.

Luckily we didn’t go for our evening meal until 6.30pm, and it was a very nice social occasion with our landlord and lady (friends of the family), Xiao Li’s big sister’s husband (we call him Jie Fu) and various other friends in our own private eating room. Food was great, with my personal favourite – fried bees. I ended up playing Cai Ma – the famous drinking game where two people show a number of fingers at the same time, like scissors paper stone, except you have to guess what the total will be. They were quite impressed by my prowess in this game, especially as we normally play in Cantonese.

Our first evening meal in Pingguo this year

Leilei and some friends

I pretended I was drunk (on 3.6% beer you have to sometimes) and managed to leave at around 10pm I guess (actually I was a bit pissed – but more tired). At home Xiao Li wanted to open the bottle of wine I’d bought when we arrived in Pingguo for a little over a quid but as we had no opener we decided not to (normally I’d have used a coat hanger but I just wanted to sleep). So I got to bed soon after midnight hoping for a good night’s sleep.

Up at 5am and sweet cool tea

Stupidly woke up at 5am and it was too hot to get back to sleep (yet air con was a bit too cool with baby in room). Breakfast (about 4 hours later) was noodles with meat and coriander – even Leilei had some - he called them “Thomas the Tank Engine Noodles” as they looked like a train going into a tunnel as he sucked them in his mouth.


Leilei having a cup of herbal Liang Cha (cool tea)

We did get out into Nanning and although Leilei wasn't eating much he was happy to drink some sweet cool tea. I don't remember much more and presume I wanted to, but didn't get, an early night.

Back to Nanning after big breakfast and 11am lunch of crabs

Had a big breakfast with the family at 9am and packed my bags afterwards. I took out the kids to XiJiaHui park while Tan did her stuff (you do not want to be with a woman while she is packing – the stress is pushed over to you and you are blamed for everything).

Tai Chi in the morning

It seemed like this bloke didn't want us to cross his path. Actually he was very friendly

Xixi enjoying the park and the weather

Zhang Yong came to pick us up for lunch at 10.30, just as I was starting to digest a boiled egg, a fried egg, three sausages, bacon, greens and a bowl of fruit (to balance the meal). He took us to a rather good restaurant he took us to two years ago that specialises in crabs. We managed to get through the crab and prawn dishes fairly easily for an 11am lunch. I was a bit disappointed they only served Budweiser beer, and more so that it was only 3.1%, as I was hoping to be a bit tiddly before catching the plane to Nanning. Still, after three bottles I was feeling the effect that was quickly to wash away.

We got back to the hotel where our mian bao taxi was waiting – basically a van (mian bao means bread – as the van looks like a loaf of bread). We said goodbye and thanks for all the crabs to Zhang Yong, then made the half hour journey to Shanghai’s 2nd airport, Hong Qiao, which serves internal destinations. While checking in the security woman asked me to open one of our bags which I duly did. She rummaged around and found a bottle of vodka and one of whisky, which I explained were presents. She shook the vodka and seemed happy, then began going through everything asking what it was (Tan had taken Xixi to be changed so it wasn’t easy to translate everything). Eventually she laid her hands on some hand cleaning gel that purports to get rid of 99.9% of germs. I explained this was important for the children’s health as it reduced the chances of them them catching diseases but this woman was out to get something from this bag so she decided to prove how “dangerous” the gel was by dipping some cotton wool into it and lighting it. Guess what? It stayed alight. Wow. It’s not like it exploded or anything. Stupid bitch, by that logic she should have confiscated the vodka and whisky, I mean this wasn’t even hand luggage. I reckon it was just to do with not losing face after asking someone to open their bag for inspection. Well at least no-one noticed the bottle of hand gel in Tan’s hand luggage…

Anyway, the plane was delayed due to “mechanical trouble” according to the sign in the departure lounge, to “aeroplane maintenance” according to the announcements over the tannoy, and to “late arrival of aeroplane” according to the announcement in the plane itself. I suppose all three could be true though it doesn’t do one’s confidence any good. At least after the first hour’s delay you can show your boarding passes and get a free bottle of tea, and after the second hour you get a free meal and a can of tea. Fortunately (not for the airport cleaning staff) the delay was only a few minutes over two hours, so just as everyone was tucking into their food there was a rush to queue to get on the plane, which meant the bins quickly filled with half-eaten trays of rice, pork etc. During this time three ladies introduced themselves to us – they were friends of Tan’s big sister, returning to Ping Xiang near the Vietnam border where they all live. They’d seen us and wondered if we might be Tan’s family so they rang big sister to find out. So there was a lot of cooing over Xixi – not for the first time this trip I expect…

We arrived at the airport and Tan’s 2nd sister arrived half an hour later to pick us up with about four friends. We just about managed to get all our stuff into the two small cars, and made the 45 minute drive to her house with no back seatbelts and kids squirming all over the place. Tan’s 2nd sister (we call her Er Jie – sister 2) has a modest two-bedroomed apartment about a 10 minute drive from central Nanning. There were some other people – friends, neighbours and relatives – in the house to greet us so I went out with A Heng (Tan’s brother’s son) to buy some barbeque then got to bed at around 2am.

Floating shoe boxes and big wheel graffiti

Awoke at 5am after two hours sleep with a very painful tummy and was nearly sick… I was feeling feverish and started seeing floating shoe boxes above me. It took some effort but I managed to logic them away by focusing on the fact that they were not real. Also, by doing this in Chinese it made it easier to concentrate on the job of removing the shoe boxes from my mind. Then I had the idea for a big wheel on the side of a flat cliff, with wonderful views one side, and the choice of shooting paint balls on the other to colour/graffiti the cliff. It felt like a good idea at the time as it would be easier to erect than the London Eye, but somehow I don’t think it will catch on.

After finally getting some money out I went back to sleep at 11am for 4 hours, when Diana came again and went out shopping with Tan and the kids, then slept again till 6.30pm when they came back. Even then I found it hard to get up to go for a meal. This time we went to a “Vegetarian New Age” restaurant in a fashionable road in Shanghai that Diana had been to earlier in the day. Although the food was a fairly good alternative to meat, there was no disguising the fact there was no alternative to beer, so I still haven’t had more than a pint at any meal yet….

Outside, the girls (Diana and Tan) realised there was still half an hour of shopping time to go, which they made due use of. At least we were constrained by baggage allowance, something that didn’t appear to apply to Diana and her 12 new pairs of shoes. By 10pm just about everyone on Huai Hai Central Road was waiting for a taxi, so the girls started trying to flag one down too. They didn’t appear to understand me when I suggested walking up one of the adjoining roads as there were fewer people there, and looked at me like I was doing something to spite them when I turned up one of these roads. Of course within a minute I’d found a cab. Did I get any thanks for using my logic to enable these ladies and kids to get home safely and quickly?

Despite the amount of sleep today I still managed to fall asleep by 1am.

Lack of sleep and typical City

Awoke after four hours sleep at 4am to the sound of a text message from Andge saying it looked like Man City would be in the next round of the Carling Cup to play Derby, as they were winning at Brighton. Spent the next two hours following the game on the internet as Brighton pulled back, brought the game into extra time, then won 5-3 on penalties. Even being the richest club in the world it is still grim being a City fan.

Went down for breakfast at 6.30am with Xixi, to the delight of the young ladies who work there. Then took her out at 7am to XiJiaHui park, which is a very serene place in the middle of a bustling metropolis. Most of the park’s visitors were 50+, and doing their routines of Tai Chi, or other slightly more rigorous exercises such as dancing. You would see them on their own in the middle of the path standing on one leg like slightly animate statues.

Our Malaysian friend Diana, who had arranged to be in Shanghai at the same time as us, came to our hotel around 11am but by this time I was ready to get some sleep. So instead of going out for lunch we decided to eat in the hotel, which was in fact very nice except they didn’t have much veggie food for Diana. I went off for a snooze and let the ladies take the kids out to do some shopping. When I awoke a couple of hours later I went to get some money out and found I couldn’t. It turned out (after a long and expensive phone call) that the cards had been blocked for use abroad. It would have been nice to be told about that before.

Tan’s ex-boss Zhang Yong and his chubby 11 year old daughter came to pick us up from the hotel in the evening and took us to an expensive hotel in Pu Dong district, where we ate lots of seafood (not a good idea on your second day in China).

Although shattered, I couldn’t sleep due to a dodgy tummy so I had a beer and eventually got to sleep at nearly 3am