Musical meal with Li Kun's friends by the river

Well I managed to be up at 10am but didn't see any message from Li Kun about pig skin, and was not about to call him to remind him. So I slept in till well gone midday, when he pinged me to send me a video of the frying of some pig skin and asked me if I was up. I answered in the affirmative and he said he'd arrange someone to pick me up. I said I'd take the dian dong che so he said to come to the office where someone would lead me. That someone was the bloke who's often in the office drinking something or other and I really should know his name. But he turned up with a load of beer on his dian dong che and I followed him for the next 15 minutes or so.

Unexpectedly beautiful setting for a late afternoon meal and sing song

Wow, I didn't really expect such a place. It was nice to see wives and kids, which meant it wouldn't be too much of a drinking session. But there were guitars and a loud speaker, which meant I would be obliged to perform and therefore would probably imbibe. But of course food came first and we had some lovely nosh including the meat that had been cooked earlier in the day. Shortly later the first beers flowed and then the music started. There's not much that 2.5% beer can do for Dutch courage but sod it I think I can do without it now. I downloaded the lyrics to Mrs Robinson then checked with the guys back home and Mat said to do Mrs Robinson so that was it. Li Kun tried to join me on the drums but had some difficulty picking up the beat for some reason. So the other music bloke came to him and seemed to help him out. Of course The Boxer and Sound of Silence followed a bit later, so I'd done my bit and earned my beer.

Another set

Haiwei had invited me to go to his place for 5.30pm and it was getting on for that time so I said I'd better go but of course I had to be fashionably late, so around 5.30pm I took A Mong, the actual singer and guitarist, back to Pingguo. I had forgotten how long it took and dropped him off at the guangchang at nearly 6pm. But I needed a shave so went home to do that so didn't get to Haiwei's until nearly 7pm. I don't really remember what we did there other than eat some beef. Oh yes, some woman was there but not drinking as she was on medicine, and she said she'd invite us for a meal tomorrow but drunk or sober I've heard this so many times and I reckon there's a 33% chance of it happening.

Musical meal for Boss Li

Up middayish so not too bad considering last night's frivolities. Quail eggs were once again for lunch, and the afternoon became evening as Li Kun pinged me to go to his office for 6pm so we could go for the meal with Feng di. Once there I was given a huge drum to take on my dian dong che which meant I could barely steer. More importantly, it meant there would likely be music again at the meal...which would probably mean a guitar would be thrust in my arms again. I really wish I could sing well, like be able to properly exhale, not just keep in tune. I wonder if that sort of thing is still learnable at my age. I'm rather self-conscious about it but would enjoy it much more knowing it sounded ok.

I managed to keep up with Li Kun's dian dong che with his wife and daughter just about and a few minutes later we ended up at the original Li Jia He Xian for the first time in about five years. Wow, I thought it had moved to north of the city but no it is still here too. We entered a massive room with a round table that must have been able to seat at least 25 people and I knew I potentially had a rather large audience. Each seat had its own huoguo and there was loads of raw meat to choose from. We were relatively early to arrive but others soon did and before long there was a great atmosphere. Apparently it was Boss Li's meal as he'd just opened a new business. I took quite a lot of pride in being the first person to walk up to him and ganbei him and wish him luck in his business. To be honest I also was aware that music may start soon so I'd want some Dutch courage, not for the first time this year.

Yet another amazing meal

And yes, a bit later a guitar duly arrived and some bloke started singing. And yes, after that it was my turn and I did a few Simon and Garfunkel numbers as per usual. But it seemed that wasn't enough. Some teacher bloke started playing Hotel California and wanted me to sing it! Bloody hell it's much too high for me...but sod it I did it anyway with thanks to lyrics I found on the phone. Then I had to do a rendition of Hey Jude. Then a bloke started singing a lovely song I sort of learnt about 12 years ago (You mei you ren ceng gaosu ni wo hen ai ni?), and I even volunteered to join in with him, until finally we broke into my favourite Pengyou. Gosh, what a fun night! This sort of stuff never happens in a public place in the UK.

Li Kun said that tomorrow we'd go out to prepare pig skin. I don't know if this was meant literally or not but he said it would be at 10am which sounded rather early, given how the evening was going. I guess it's some sort of cultural thing so I should probably go.

Ended up getting home after midnight and had a brief chat with the lads. Tan had advised me to get a flight from Nanning to Shenzhen rather than a train, as the train would mean spending over an hour on the tube. I don't really agree with this but at 1.30am I was a little tiddly and bought the £47 flight ticket anyway. The train would probably have been more convenient and a little cheaper but whatever...