Bit of a quiet day for a change. I was told to take the kids to Waip's for tea but when we arrived we found there was none. As I hadn't taken them to A Ni's recently I decided to treat them to steak and chips and they ate most of both the portions. I'd had nothing to eat so had a little of their leftovers before taking them to table tennis. I'd rung Zhang Liangwen and agreed to pop over there in 15 minutes, and unlike most people I know around here he turned up bang on time as we did.
There are many tables here so the kids could play by themselves as I lost 4-1 in games after stupidly winning the first meaning Liangwen moved up a gear. But the kids started to get fractiously annoying, especially when some boys come around and one of them, younger than Leilei probably, started playing with me and it was clear he'd had a lot of practice. So I took them home to find there was no water in the house again. This isn't good news after a drenching session of ping pong but not worries we just went to Waip's again where we did have a shower. I left them there and brought a large bucket back to our building. I asked the security guards what the water problem was and they said it was to do with pressure, and would be ok tomorrow. I thought that might be the case and asked where I may fill up the bucket and one of the blokes did it for me in some room on the ground floor. I wanted to know at which floor the problem started but thought better of the potential conversation; Tan was waiting for the bucket of water as she had an upset stomach and toilets would need to be flushed.
In the lift I met some people going to the sixth floor, and asked them if their water was ok. Indeed it was, well at least I've narrowed down where the problem could start. As the kids would stay at Waip's and Tan was staying in, I met up with advertising friends from yesterday again. This time it was a bit earlier and four of us played cai ma and a brilliant dice game that has a hint of both cai ma and poker about it, not to mention throwing the dice in a loud manner seems to be part of the fun. Before I knew it it was 2am again so we said our goodbyes. Except there were two blokes at another table who wanted to have a couple of gan bei's so as I waved goodbye I sat down with them but kept it to a very reasonable 20 minutes.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Piano and baby washing
I went for a ride in the morning and happened upon the "new" athletics/football stadium next to the basketball stadium. I'm used to it now but I still notice the state of disrepair that permeates through so much of this place, and to a great extent the mainland as a whole. Things get built quite nicely but maintenance doesn't seem to exist unless absolutely necessary, and look at the basketball stadium brought this back to me. To be fair, the Mingdien hotel that we used to go to frequently is now closed for redecoration so things may be changing. And also Zhuhai was heading in a better direction, though still noticeably less well-kept than Macau. The most common place you feel it is in the pavements - most of the paving slabs are broken and wobble underfoot, and I don't that these days it can be blamed on a lack of cash
As I was riding back from Waip's I noticed a car I recognised and followed it. It was indeed A Wu's old car that had taken us to Vietnam in 2009 - I'm surprised it's still going. As I'd got up reasonably early I decided to head for a massage where I might get a little kip too. I called A Wu to see if he wanted to go but he said we'd go later. I told him I wouldn't have time later and he asked where I was going. When I told him it was the one he had an account with he told me not to go there - "there are prostitutes there". That's the sort of thing people will say when they don't want you to go to a place for a different reason. I guess he no longer had an account there and I didn't want to question him. But I'd been there before and knew this was not a place of ill repute. And the massage was perfect - comfortable rather than overly pressurised as if to enforce the feeling that something was being done that was actually good for your body. And I managed 40 winks afterwards as well till gone 5pm when Waipo called me to eat.
Later I had the urge to play the piano as it had been a good few days since the last time, and I turned up at the piano place near the market at well gone 8pm, knowing that they closed at 9. But I got a nice 10 minutes of practice in without others disturbing me, till A Wu called to ask where I was. When I mentioned it he decided to come over so the teacher explained where it was. Five minutes later he was there with his baby son and discussing, quite seriously, how much lessons would be. He's only one year old....
Then some other bloke teacher came along and played a little bit of music I recognised, before asking me to play some. So I played a few rags and they seemed to like it, and I saw I was being filmed too...oh dear my ragged rags would be on WeChat within seconds. The teacher then talked to me in broken English, and said the ragtime was Country Music. I wanted to argue but didn't have the vocabularly this subject would require so I acquiesed that it was "sort of".
Then A Wu and I went to the baby bath place at the bottom of our building and I spent some time chatting to some of the parents there. It was nice to see that not all were the mothers, and there were some grandparents too. But the main thing was seeing the babies held by inflatable rings around their necks leaving the rest of the body in the water - they all seemed to be loving it there.
We went back to A Ni's shop and then A Wu said he'd take his son home and to wait for me as we'd go somewhere. I had arranged to see a friend from the advertising shop later but certainly had some time now. The problem was A Wu didn't come back straightaway. Not that it mattered; I wasn't going to waste time waiting for him, but it did sort make it annoying not knowing how to pan out the rest of the evening. It was a good 90 minutes later at well gone 10pm when A Wu rang to say we would go to some place near the KTV place, and he'd call me in a bit. "A bit" would prove to be nearly an hour later, by which time I found myself having tea with a neighbouring shop. I think the daughter there has a bit of a thing for Western men as the other week when she saw me getting home she shouted out "hello!" and ran over to me. Almost instantly her mum or auntie also rushed out and said my wife was from Bangxu, before even I could say it. So tonight I made sure what looked like her dad was present so there would be no rumours about drinking tea together. A Wu finally called to say there was no-one there anymore, and we'd sort something tomorrow. This fitted perfectly as I was able to go to the advertising shop to catch up on an old friend.
It was getting on for 11.30 but all the advertising shop workers were eating and drinking outside the shop, though for no special reason it seemed. I sat down with them for a while and politely gan bei'd for a bit before three of us went to find a small bbq place that I'd not been to before and sat outside till 2am eating and drinking at a much more reasonable speed.
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| It just looks so messy |
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| It seems they maintain the cars better than the buildings |
Later I had the urge to play the piano as it had been a good few days since the last time, and I turned up at the piano place near the market at well gone 8pm, knowing that they closed at 9. But I got a nice 10 minutes of practice in without others disturbing me, till A Wu called to ask where I was. When I mentioned it he decided to come over so the teacher explained where it was. Five minutes later he was there with his baby son and discussing, quite seriously, how much lessons would be. He's only one year old....
Then some other bloke teacher came along and played a little bit of music I recognised, before asking me to play some. So I played a few rags and they seemed to like it, and I saw I was being filmed too...oh dear my ragged rags would be on WeChat within seconds. The teacher then talked to me in broken English, and said the ragtime was Country Music. I wanted to argue but didn't have the vocabularly this subject would require so I acquiesed that it was "sort of".
Then A Wu and I went to the baby bath place at the bottom of our building and I spent some time chatting to some of the parents there. It was nice to see that not all were the mothers, and there were some grandparents too. But the main thing was seeing the babies held by inflatable rings around their necks leaving the rest of the body in the water - they all seemed to be loving it there.
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| Cute |
We went back to A Ni's shop and then A Wu said he'd take his son home and to wait for me as we'd go somewhere. I had arranged to see a friend from the advertising shop later but certainly had some time now. The problem was A Wu didn't come back straightaway. Not that it mattered; I wasn't going to waste time waiting for him, but it did sort make it annoying not knowing how to pan out the rest of the evening. It was a good 90 minutes later at well gone 10pm when A Wu rang to say we would go to some place near the KTV place, and he'd call me in a bit. "A bit" would prove to be nearly an hour later, by which time I found myself having tea with a neighbouring shop. I think the daughter there has a bit of a thing for Western men as the other week when she saw me getting home she shouted out "hello!" and ran over to me. Almost instantly her mum or auntie also rushed out and said my wife was from Bangxu, before even I could say it. So tonight I made sure what looked like her dad was present so there would be no rumours about drinking tea together. A Wu finally called to say there was no-one there anymore, and we'd sort something tomorrow. This fitted perfectly as I was able to go to the advertising shop to catch up on an old friend.
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| Tan ordered a box of dragonfire fruit and even after giving half to Waipo we still had too many so I took a few over to A Ni's to be smoothied |
It was getting on for 11.30 but all the advertising shop workers were eating and drinking outside the shop, though for no special reason it seemed. I sat down with them for a while and politely gan bei'd for a bit before three of us went to find a small bbq place that I'd not been to before and sat outside till 2am eating and drinking at a much more reasonable speed.
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